THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 
RIVERSIDE 


!■ 


THE    SCOTT    ORIGINALS 


SIR  WALTER  SCOTT,  BART., 
From  a  painting  by  Andrew  Gcddes,  A.R.A. 


THE    SCOTT 
ORIGINALS 

AN  ACCOUNT  OF  NOTABLES  &  WORTHIES 

THE  ORIGINALS  OF  CHARACTERS  IN  THE 

WAVERLEY  NOVELS 


■ 


BY 


W.  S.  CROCKETT 

MINISTER   OF  TWEEDSMUIR 

AUTHOR   OF    "FOOTSTEPS   OF   SCOTT  "    "  THE   SCOTT   COUNTRY*' 

'ABBOTSFORD"    "IN    PRAISE   OF   TWEED"   ETC.    ETC. 


•    •••.. 
.    •  '..     .       , 

»      •      •     • 


•  »       • 


New  York 

CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 

153  Fifth  Avenue 

1912 


«.  •  • ,  • 

4     *      •     • 


•     • 


Printed  by  Morrison  &  Gibb  Limited,  Edinburgh 


To 

"Daniel  sAitkenhead 

Schoolmaster -Emeritus  of  Earlston 

Dear  Maister — From  the  A  B  C 
To  Greek  and  grand  Latinity 
Tou  drove  the  lessons  into  me. 

Old  Homer  strung  his  lyre  langsyne, 

Ouintus  Horatius  sang  divine, 

In  that  lore-haunted  school  of  thine. 

Back  in  those  thirty  years  agone, 

Heard  I  the  call  of"  Marmion," 

And  claimed  the  Wizard  for  mine  own. 

And  all  the  great  heart-stirring  Jays 
Fillea  up  the  fountain  of  your  praise, 
Ambition  in  my  breast  to  raise. 

Tou  led  your  Scholar  up  the  hill 
Of  learning,  with  a  joyous  will — 
His  heart  is  with  the  Maister  still. 


"  If  anywhere  in  another  world  the  blessings 
which  men  have  conferred  here  are  taken  into 
account  in  distributing  reward,  surely  the 
choicest  in  store  of  the  Most  High  will  be 
reserved  for  His  servant  Scott !  It  may  be 
said  of  others  that  they  have  made  the  world 
wise  or  rich,  but  of  him  it  must  be  said  that 
he,  more  than  all,  has  made  the  world  happier 
— wiser,  too,  wiser  through  its  happiness." — 
Mark  Rutherford. 


CONTENTS 


CHAP.  pAGE 

i.  Waverley— "The  Baron  of  Bradwardine"  •        3 

11.  „  "Davie  Gellatley"       .  .  .27 

in.  Guy  Mannering— "Dandie  Dinmont;'         .  .      45 

iv.  ,,  "  Dominie  Sampson  "        .  .      67 

v.  „  "Pleydell"  .  .  .89 

vi.  ,,  "Meg  Merrilies"  .  .     105 

vii.  The  Antiquary— "Jonathan  Oldbuck"      .  .     119 

viii.  ,,  "Edie  Ochiltree"  .  .     133 

ix.  The  Black  Dwarf— "The  Black  Dwarf"  .     143 

x.  Old  Mortality— "  Old  Mortality'-"  .  .     165 

xi.  Rob  Roy— "  Rob  Roy"  .  .  .  .187 

xil.  ,,  "  Di  Vernon"  ....     209 

xiii.  The  Heart  of  Midlothian — "Jeanie  Deans"  .     227 
xiv.                  ,,                 ,,                 "Madge  Wildfire"      243 

xv.  The  Bride  of  Lammermoor — "Lucy  Ashton"  .     249 

xvi.  A  Legend  of  Montrose— "Dugald  Dalgetty  "  .     271 
xvil.  Ivanhoe— "  Rebecca"   .....     283 

xviii.  The  Pirate— "Captain  Cleveland"  .  .     299 

vii 


viii  CONTENTS 

CHAT.  PAGE 

xix.  St.  Ronan's  Well— "Meg  Dods"      .  .  .    313 

xx.  ,,  "Josiah  Cargili.''         .  .     325 

xxi.  Redgauntlet— "Redgauntlet"        .  .  .341 

xxii.  Chronicles  of  the  Canongate—  "  Mrs.    Bethune 

Baliol"        .  .  .  .  .  -359 

xxiii.  The  Surgeon's  Daughter— "  Gideon  Gray"  .    369 

xxiv.  Is  Scott  Self-Revealed?        .  .  .  -375 

xxv.  Scott's  Clerical  Characters  .  .  .387 

Appendix  ......     405 

Index       .......     425 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


Sir  Walter  Scott,  Bart.       ....    Frontispiece 
From  a  Painting  by  Sir  Henry  Raeburn,  R.A. 

FACING 
PAGE 

Sir  Walter  Scott,  Bart.       .  .  .  .  .6 

From  a  Painting  by  Graham  Gilbert. 

Colonel  Charles  Whitefoord  .  .  .  14 

Artist  unknown.  By  permission  of  Mrs.  Whitefoord, 
Whitton  Paddocks,  Ludlow. 

The  Last  Lord  Forbes  of  Pitsligo     .  .  .20 

From  a  Painting  by  A.  S.  Belle  (1720).  By  permission  of 
Lord  Clinton. 

Daft  Jock  Gray  .  .  .  .  .  -32 

From  a  Painting  by  W.  Smellie  Watson,  R.S.A.  By  per- 
mission of  the  Trustees  of  the  late  Ralph  Dun  das, 
Esq. 

Dirk  Hatteraick's  Pistol     .  .  .  .  -5° 

From  a  Photograph  by  J.  Dunn,  Esq.  By  permission  of  Mrs. 
Dunn. 

Manuscript  Sermon  of  the  Rev.  George  Thomson        .       74 
By  permission  of  J.  E.  Fairbairn,  Esq. 

Grave  of  the  Rev.  George  Thomson         .  .  -78 

From  a  Photograph  by  John  Brown,  Esq. 

The  Rev.  James  Sanson  .  .  .  .  .82 

From  a  contemporary  Print. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


FACING 
PAGE 


Adam  Rolland  .......      92 

From  a  Painting  by  Sir  HENRY    RAEBORU  in  the  National 
Gallery  of  Scotland. 

Andrew  Crosbie  .  .  .  .  .  -96 

Artist  unknown.     By  permission  of  the  Faculty  of  Advocates. 

George  Constable       .  .  .  .  .  .122 

By  Kay.     By    ermission  of  Messrs.  T.  C.  &  E.  C.  Jack. 

Grave  of  Andrew  Gemmei.s  (2  Pictures)  .  .  .     138 

From  a  Photograph  by  Messrs.  Macintosh  &  Co.,  Kelso. 

David  Ritchie  ("The  Black  Dwarf")       .  .  .142 

From  a  contemporary  Sketch  (1802).     By  permission  of 
Margaret  Nairn,  M.A. 

The  Black  Dwarf's  Cottage  .  .  .  .146 

From  a  Photograph  by  Mrs.  Caverhill. 

Statue  of  the  Black  Dwarf  at  Hallyards  House       .     150 
From  a  Photograph  by  Mrs.  Caverhill.     By  permission  of 
Mrs.  Anderson. 

Relics  of  the  Black  Dwarf  (2  Pictures)  .  .  .156 

From  a  Photograph  by  Mrs.  Caverhill.     By  permission  of 
the  Trustees  of  the  Chambers  Institution,  Peebles. 

Grave  of  the  Black  Dwarf.  ....     160 

From  a  Photograph  by  Mrs.  Caverhill. 

Birthplace  of  Old  Mortality,  Haggisha',  Hawick        .     170 
From  a  Photograph  by  Peter  Macnairn,  Hawick. 

Statue  of  Old  Mortality  in  the  Garpel  Glen,  Bal- 

maclellan,  by  john  currie       .  .  .  -174 

From  a  Photograph  by  Summervii.le  Smith. 

Tombstone  to  Old  Mortality  at  Balmaclellan  .  .     178 

From  a  Photograph. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS  xi 


FACING 
PAGE 


Rob  Roy  ........     194 

From  an  Original   Painting  by  Andrew   Henderson,   for- 
merly in  the  possession  of  Kenneth  Macleay,  R.S.A. 

Count  and  Countess  Purgstall  (Jane  Anne  Cranstoun) 

AND  THEIR   ONLY   SON  .  .  .  .  .      2l8 

From  the  Medallion  by  Thorwaldsf.n  in  Riegersburg 
Church,  Styria.     By  permission  of  the  Hauptpfarrer. 

Grave  of  Jeanie  Deans  (Helen  Walker)  .  .  .236 

From  a  Photograph  by  James  White. 

MS.  of  "The  Heart  of  Midlothian  "— Jeanie's  Inter- 
view with  Queen  Caroline       ....     240 
By  permission  of  Mrs.  Topham. 

Baldoon  Castle  ......     256 

From  a  Photograph  by  Nicolson,  Wigtown. 


262 


Marriage  -  Contract    of    The    Bride  of    Lammermoor 
(1669)  ....... 

By  Permission  of  Captain  John  Hope,  R.N. 

Burial-Vault  of  the  Bride  of  Lammermoor,  Kirkliston 

Church        .  .  .  •  .  •  .266 

From  a  Photograph. 

Sir  James  Turner        ......     27S 

From  a  Painting  by  ROBERT  White  in  the  National  Gallery 
of  Scotland. 

Rebecca  Gratz  .......     288 

From  a  Miniature  by  Malison  k.     By  permission  of  Mrs. 
Rebecca  Gratz  Nathan. 

Grave  of  Rebecca  Gratz  at  Philadelphia  .  .     294 

From  a  Photograph  by  William  H.  Rau. 

Misses  Anne  and  Catherine  Morritt        .  .  .300 

Artist  unknown.      By  permission   of  H.  Morritt,  Esq.,   of 
Rokeby. 


xii  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


FACING 
PAGE 


Margaret  Scott,  of  Deloraine       ....     304 
From  a  Miniature  in  the  possession  of  Miss  Barbara  Feddie. 
By  permission. 

Eliza  Scott,  of  Deloraine   .....     308 
From  a  Miniature  in  the  possession  of  Miss  Barbara  Peddie. 
By  permission. 

Grave  of  the  Ritchie  Family,  Feebles     .  .  .     320 

From  a  Photograph  by  James  M'Knaught. 

Rev.  Alexander  Duncan,  D.D.        ....     334 

Artist  unknown.     By  permission  of  Dr.  John  Thomson. 

Sir  Robert  Grierson,  5TH  Baronet  of  Lag         .  .     342 

Artist  unknown.    By  permission  of  Sir  Alexander  D.  Grier- 
son, Bart. 

Grave    at    Dunscore    of    Sir    Rob'  vr    Grierson,    ist 

Baronet  of  Lag    ......     346 

From  a  Photograph  by  J.  W.  Dods,  Esq.     By  permission  of 
Sir  Alexander  D.  Grierson,  Bart. 

Mrs.  Ann  Waldie        ......     350 

From  a  Painting  by  Downman.     By  permission  of  Sir 
Richard  J.  Waldie-Griffith,  Bart. 

Mrs.  Anne  Murray  Keith     .....     362 
From  a  Miniature  at  Haigh  Hall.     By  permission  of 
Lord  Balcarres. 

Dr.  Ebenezer  Clarkson         .....     370 
Artist  unknown.     By  permission  of  Mrs.  Lawrie. 

Sir  Walter  Scott,  Bart.       ......     376 

From  a  Painting  by  Graham  Lindsay.     By  permission  of 
George  Bishop,  Esq. 


PREFACE 

JUSTIFICATION  FOR  THE  PRESENT  WORK  MAY 
be  found  in  the  plea  of  a  librarian  of  standing — Mr.  G.  M. 
Fraser  of  Aberdeen  Public  Library.  Referring  (in  a  recent 
article  on  Scott)  to  the  characters  depicted  in  the  Waverley 
Novels,  Mr.  Fraser  says  :  "  It  may  be  doubted  if  there  is  any 
one  literary  subject  on  which  requests  to  public  librarians — 
at  least  in  Scotland — are  more  frequent  or  more  interesting 
than  the  requests  for  information  as  to  the  Originals  of  these 
characters.  There  is  a  real  need  for  a  first-class  book  on  this 
subject."  That  is  to  say,  that  with  the  exception  of  Robert 
Chambers's  Illustrations  of  the  Author  of  Waverley,  published 
ninety  years  since  (but  frequently  reprinted),  no  such  book, 
has  ever  been  written.  Dictionaries  of  the  characters  exist, 
notably  Cornish's  (1871),  and  May  Rogers's  ( 1 8  79) — the  latter 
an  American  compilation,  and  admirable ;  and  Miss  M.  A. 
F.  Husband's  volume  published  last  year.  But  none  of  the 
three  make  attempt  at  identifications. 

I  have  gathered  together  (in  the  course  of  many  years)  a 
vast  amount  of  interesting  material  with  respect  to  Scott, 
hoping  some  day  to  annotate,  or  to  assist  in  annotating, 
Lockhart's  great  Biography.  Some  portion  of  these  notes 
and  investigations  has  gone  to  the  making  of  thislbook.  All 
the  available  sources  have  been  examined — the  invaluable 


xiv  PREFACE 

Introductions  contributed  to  the  Magnum  Opus  edition  of  the 
Waverleys  ;  Lockhart's  Life  of  the  Wizard ;  and  many  other 
works  which  only  a  Scott  Bibliography  could  enumerate. 

Only  the  best-known  of  the  characters  have  been  dealt 
with,  and  those  generally  whose  identity  either  Scott  or 
Lockhart  has  revealed.  I  have  not  formulated  theories : 
for  who  can  pretend  to  be  certain  where  the  Master  himself 
is  silent  ?  Indeed,  the  whole  question  is  a  somewhat  thorny 
one.  What  were  Scott's  methods  in  drawing  his  fictitious 
portraits  ?  He  had  an  individual  in  view,  no  doubt,  but  his 
identity  was  veiled  by  the  addition  of  characteristics  belong- 
ing to  a  totally  different  personage  or  (as  often  happened) 
personages.  Scott  painted  in  "composites."  The  living 
person  he  never  transferred  to  his  pages  simply  as  he  was. 
That  were  a  violation  of  the  technique  of  the  novelist's  art, 
impossible  to  a  great  creative  genius.  Scott's  characters  are 
his  own  matchless  creation.  He  first  lived  among  them. 
He  had  gone  through  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  country 
and  had  met  after  a  friendly  fashion  with  all  the  conditions 
of  life  which  are  so  happily  reflected  in  his  resplendent 
mirror.  There  everything  is  so  real,  so  true  to  life,  so  ex- 
quisitely touched  with  the  "  rare  sweet  glamour  of  humanity." 

In  the  making  of  this  book  I  have  been  indebted  for  much 
kind  help — more  than  I  can  sufficiently  acknowledge — par- 
ticularly with  regard  to  the  Illustrations,  which  constitute  an 
altogether  unique  Scott  Gallery. 

My  thanks  are  due  to  Lord  Clinton,  who  furnished  me 
with  Belle's  fine  print  of  Lord  Pitsligo  (a  more  youthful-look- 
ing Baron,  it  must  be  confessed,  than  him  of  Bradwardine) ; 
to  Lord  Balcarres,  M.P.,  for  the  charming  portrait  of  his  rela- 
tive, Mrs.  Anne  Murray  Keith,  from  the  MS.  Journal  of 


PREFACE  xv 

Lady  Anne  Barnard ;  to  Sir  Alexander  D.  Grierson  of  Lag, 
for  permission  to  reproduce  a  newly-discovered  portrait  of  his 
ancestor,  the  fifth  Baronet ;  to  Dr.  John  Thomson,  for  the 
portrait  of  his  ancestor,  Scott's  minister — Dr.  Duncan  of 
Smailholm  ;  to  Mr.  George  Bishop,  for  the  Graham  Lindsay 
portrait  of  Sir  Walter,  believed  to  be  the  last  for  which  Scott 
sat,  previous  to  his  departure  for  Italy,  though  Lockhart  has 
no  mention  of  the  circumstances ;  to  Captain  Hope  of  St. 
Mary's  Isle,  for  permission  to  reproduce  the  Marriage-Con- 
tract of  the  Bride  of  Lammermoor  found  in  the  charter-chest 
of  the  Earl  of  Selkirk;  to  Hauptpfarrer  JohanBaptiste  Leitgeb, 
who  furnished  me  with  the  exquisite  medallion  of  the  Purg- 
stalls,  from  the  vault  at  Riegersburg ;  to  Mrs.  Gratz  Nathan, 
for  the  beautiful  miniature  of  "  Rebecca,"  and  to  Mr.  John 
Thomson,  Philadelphia  (America's  authority  on  Scott),  for  in- 
formation as  to  the  prototype  of  Scott's  Jewess ;  to  Miss 
Nairn,  for  the  curious  but  authentic  print  of  the  Black  Dwarf, 
and  to  Mrs.  Caverhill  who  so  admirably  photographed  scenes 
and  relics  connected  with  that  character.  I  am  specially 
grateful  to  Mrs.  Topham,  the  possessor  of  the  MS.  of  The 
Heart  of 'Midlothian,  for  permission  to  reproduce  that  most 
fascinating  of  all  its  passages — Jeanie's  interview  with  Queen 
Caroline ;  to  Mrs.  Lawrie,  for  the  portrait  of  her  grandfather, 
Scott's  doctor,  Ebenezer  Clarkson.  To  Mr.  J.  E.  Fairbairn 
I  am  indebted  for  particulars  respecting  the  Rev.  George 
Thomson — "  Dominie  Sampson,"and  for  liberty  to  reproduce 
a  page  from  one  of  his  manuscript  sermons.  Mr.  Walter  S. 
Dickson  sent  me  the  letters  appended  to  the  Jeanie  Deans 
chapter.  Mr.  W.  B.  Cook  allowed  me  to  quote  from  his 
notes  on  Rob  Roy.  To  Mr.  Lang's  delightful  Introductions 
to  the  Border  Edition  of  the  Novels  (far  and  away  the  best), 


XVI 


PREFACE 


and  Mrs.  MacCunn's  Sir  Walter  Scott's  Friends  (a  fascinat- 
ing work),  I  am  obliged  for  several  hints.  Finally,  my  thanks 
are  due  to  my  friend  Mr.  J.  Cuthbert  Hadden,  who  has  kindly 
revised  the  proofs  of  this  book. 

W.  S.  CROCKETT. 
The  Manse,  Tweedsmuir, 
wth  December  191 1. 


CHAPTER  ONE 

WAVERLEY 
"THE  BARON  OF  BRADWARDINE" 


"  And  our  old  Baron  rose  in  might, 
Like  a  lion  from  his  den, 
And  rode  away  across  the  hills 
To  Charlie  and  his  men." 

W.  E.  Aytoun. 


CHAPTER   ONE  WAVERLEY 

"THE  BARON  OF  BRADWARDINE" 

WAVERLEY  WAS    SCOTT'S    FIRST    NOVEL. 

Begun  at  Ashestiel  in  1805,  and  discontinued  shortly 
afterwards,  it  was  resumed  in  1813  and  published 
anonymously  the  year  following.  With  its  theme — 
the  second  Jacobite  Rising — Scott  was  intimate  and 
familiar.  Forty  years  after  the  events  occurred  there 
were  still  living  many  who  bore  a  valiant  part  therein, 
many  who,  although  not  actual  participants,- could 
speak  with  perfect  knowledge  of  the  circumstances 
and  with  all  the  vivacity  of  ancient  chroniclers.1. .  To 
these  Scott  was  indebted  for  much  of  his  information 
— not,  of  course,  that  Waverley  was  in  his  mind  at  that 
early  time.  At  Sandyknowe  and  at  Kelso  legends  of 
the  Highlander  years  lingered  by  hearth  and  hillside — 
linger  to  this  day,  to  be  sure.  At  Prestonpans  he  could 
hardly  escape  hearing  local  accounts  of  Cope,  the 
heroic  Colonel  Gardiner,  and  others.  At  George  Square 
there  was  no  more  favourite  subject  for  the  lively  con- 
versation of  such  men  as  George  Constable  and  Alex- 
ander Stewart.  Scott's  youth  was  passed  in  the  after- 
glow of  the  great  struggle.  Accordingly,  when  the  time 
came  for  him  to  reduce  the  story  of  Prince  Charlie's 
mad  venture  within  the  limits  of  a  written  romance, 
he  found  the  process  to  be  comparatively  easy.  All 
the  historical  data  he  had  at  his  fingers'  ends.  Hence 
the  astonishing  rapidity  with  which  Waverley  was 
penned — quite  two-thirds  of  it  within  three  weeks. 

Hitherto  in  the  realm  of  poetry  Scott  had  shone  as 
3 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS  :  WAVERLEY 

a  star  of  considerable  magnitude  in  an  age  when  there 
was  little  brilliancy  in  the  poetical  firmament.  He 
had  his  opportunity  as  a  poet,  and  he  made  the  most 
of  it,  even  as  at  a  later  period — driven,  it  must  be  said, 
by  the  force  of  circumstance — he  essayed  the  region 
of  Romance  in  which  his  spurs  were  no  less  nobly  won. 
He  had  none  to  meet  him  on  his  own  ground  as  a  poet 
till  the  greater  luminary,  Byron, appeared,  when  Scott 
knew  that  his  reign  in  that  realm  was  at  an  end.  He 
remarked  to  James  Bafiahtyne  that  "  Byron  hit  the 
mark  where  I  don't  even  pretend  to  fledge  my  arrow," 
aItho.ugi|  it  was  the  author  of  The  Giaour  who  sent  a 
copy  of  his  poem  to  the  author  of  Marmion  with  this 
inscription  :  "  To  the  Monarch  of  Parnassus  from  one 
of  his  subjects."  But  if  Byron's  advent  meant  extinc- 
tion for  Scott  in  one  field  of  effort,  it  paved  the  way 
for  a  much  higher  distinction  in  another.  And  it  were 
infinitely  better  to  lose  a  bard  who  could  never  be 
rated  among  the  first,  or,  as  some  critics  will  have 
it,  among  the  second,  rank  of  poets,  and  to  gain  in- 
stead the  "  King  of  the  Romantics."  We  have  Scott, 
however,  as  a  Romantic  largely  because  we  had  him 
first  as  a  maker  of  verse.  Had  there  been  no  Lay 
of  the  Last  Minstrel,  no  Marmion,  it  is  possible  there 
had  been  no  Waver ley,  no  Guy  Mannering.  Scott  learn- 
ed his  lesson  as  a  novelist  whilst  he  was  yet  raid- 
ing the  Liddesdale  glens  or  licking  his  cantos  into 
shape  on  the  Shirra's  Knowe  at  Ashestiel.  He  was, 
indeed,  "  making  himself  "  in  every  year  before  Wav- 
erley  burst  upon  the  scene.   It  was  the  spirit  as  well 

4 


u 


THE     BARON     OF     BRADWARDINE" 


as  the  success  of  his  poetic  ventures  which  rendered 
the  Waverley  succession  all  the  easier  and  all  the  more 
splendid.  In  innumerable  instances  one  lights  on  pas- 
sages and  incidents  which  were  the  direct  outcome  of 
the  time  when  the  Minstrelsy  was  in  the  melting-pot. 
Lockhart  affirmed  that  the  Minstrelsy  contained  the 
elements  of  a  hundred  romances.  The  like  may  be 
said  of  Scott's  great  original  poems.  In' themselves 
they  are  romances  of  the  most  finished  character, 
Homeric  in  their  epic  stateliness  and  picturesqueness. 
They  are  the  outflow  of  that  good  fortune  which 
linked  Scott  to  the  past  by  an  unbroken  succession  of 
traditions  and  personages.  No  man  was  ever  more 
"thirled  "to  the  haunting  greatness  of  a  history  which 
wove  its  tendrils,  so  to  speak,  around  his  heart. 

Rokeby  and  The  Bridal  of  Triermainwere  the  poems 
which  immediately  preceded  Waverley.  The  Lord  of  the 
Isles  and  Harold  the  Dauntless  followed  after  the  first 
three  or  four  of  the  Waverleys  had  appeared.  There- 
after we  take  leave  of  Scott  in  the  capacity  of  poet. 
That  arena  of  the  muse  he  now  boldly  and  resolutely 
abandoned  for  those  fields  of  fresh  renown  which  were 
whitening  unto  the  harvest. 

As  has  been  said,  Waverley  in  its  final  stages  was 
got  quickly  off  the  anvil.  It  was  an  unqualified  tri- 
umph, the  thousand  copies  which  made  up  the  first 
edition  disappearing  within  a  month,  over  four  thou- 
sand copies  being  sold  before  the  end  of  the  year.  The 
work  appeared  early  in  July.  Contemporary  criticism 
welcomed  the  novel  with  an  exceeding  good  grace, 
5 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS  !  WAVERLEY 

with  the  exception  of  the  Quarterly  Review,  whose 
article  was  couched  in  what  Lockhart  calls  a  "captious, 
cavilling  strain  of  quibble. ' '  In  the  Edinburgh  Review 
Jeffrey  sparingly  employed  his  scalping-knife.  He  was 
generous  to  a  degree,  and  was  at  no  pains  to  conceal 
his  conviction  of  the  authorship.  "It  is  wonderful," 
he  says,  "  what  genius  and  adherence  to  nature  will 
do,  in  spite  of  all  disadvantages.  Here  is  a  thing 
obviously  very  hostile  and,  in  many  places,  very  un- 
skilfully written,  composed,  one-half  of  it,  in  a  dialect 
unintelligible  to  four-fifths  of  the  reading  population 
of  the  country,  relating  to  a  period  too  recent  to  be 
romantic  and  too  far  gone  by  to  be  familiar,  and 
published,  moreover,  in  a  quarter  of  the  island  where 
materials  and  talents  for  novel-writing  have  been 
supposed  to  be  equally  wanting,  and  yet,  by  the  mere 
force  and  truth  and  vivacity  of  its  colouring,  already 
casting  the  whole  tribe  of  ordinary  novels  into  the 
shade  and  taking  its  place  rather  with  the  most 
popular  of  our  modern  poems  than  with  the  rubbish 
of  provincial  romances." 

There  was  no  subject  more  germane  to  Scott's  up- 
bringing and  temperament  than  the  attempt  to  rein- 
state the  Stuarts  upon  the  throne.  He  was,  we  have 
seen,  familiar  with  every  phase  of  the  story.  He  had 
been  over  much  of  the  ground  of  the  struggle,  had 
talked  with  individuals  who  had  taken  no  insignificant 
part  in  the  enterprise.  Courageous  enough  to  avow 
himself  a  Jacobite  in  spirit,  Scott  recognised,  at  the 
same  time,  that  Jacobitism  was  a  spent  force,  that  no- 


SIR  WALTER  SCOTT,  BART., 

From  a  painting  by  Graham  Gilbert 


"THE     BARON     OF     BRADWARDINE" 

thing  could  have  been  more  foolhardy  than  each  of 
the  Risings  associated  with  the  movement,  that  the 
state  of  the  times  and  the  persons  mainly  responsible 
for  the  project  were  not  such  as  to  have  inspired  it 
with  any  measure  of  hope.  He  was  interested  as  a 
historian,  as  Beardie's  descendant,  in  the  Jacobite 
cause.  He  admired  the  splendid  loyalty  of  the  High- 
landers, especially  after  Culloden.  He  was  stirred  by 
the  poetic  charm  of  the  unhappy  and  ungrateful  house 
of  Stuart.  Further  than  that  he  did  not  venture. 
Never  once  does  he  even  sentimentally  approve  of 
"  plunging  a  kingdom  into  all  the  miseries  of  civil  war 
for  the  purpose  of  replacing  upon  the  throne  the  de- 
scendants of  a  monarch  by  whom  it  had  been  wilfully 
forfeited."  Waverley's  reflections  on  receiving  Rose's 
letter  (Chap,  xxviii.)  are  likely  to  be  Scott's  own. 
From  a  dramatic  and  a  romantic  point  of  view  Jaco- 
bitism  had  its  attractions.  Intellectually  and  logi- 
cally the  game  was  not  worth  the  candle. 

Waverley  *  is  not  so  vivacious,  nor  is  it  so  well  told, 
as  others  of  the  series,  but  as  a  piece  of  historical  senti- 

*  The  title  Waverley  was  derived  from  the  Abbey  of  Waverley, 
near  Farnham,  in  Surrey.  Scott  is  said  to  have  visited  at  Moor 
Park  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  to  have  been  taken  with  the  pret- 
tiness  of  the  name.  But  there  is  no  evidence  to  show  that  Scott  had 
ever  been  at  Farnham.  He  knew  Charlotte  Smith,  the  novelist, who 
lived  at  Tilford  House  there.  Probably  Scott  found  the  name  in 
the  British  Museum  in  the  A  nnales  Monasterii  de  Waverleia,  which 
no  doubt  he  consulted  in  the  course  of  his  investigations  into  the 
history  of  the  Cistercian  Order.  It  was  at  Waverley  that  the  Cis- 
tercians first  settled  in  England  in  1128.  The  word  signifies  the 
mead,  or  lea,  near  the  river  Wey— Pope's  "  chalky  Wey  that  rolls 
a  milky  wave." 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS  :  WAVERLEY 

ment,  pathetic  in  its  utter  hopelessness,  there  is  none 
in  the  series  to  match  it.  Its  portraits,  historical  and 
imaginary,  are  drawn  with  a  deft  pen.  As  is  so  fre- 
quently the  case  with  Scott,  the  hero,  Edward  Wav- 
erley,  is  hardly  the  real  hero  after  all.  He  appears  in 
every  chapter,  and  is  noble  and  chivalrous  through- 
out, notwithstanding  that  his  creator  speaks  of  him 
(undeservedly)  as  "  a  sneaking  piece  of  imbecility." 
He  is  more  at  home,  however,  on  the  domestic  hearth 
than  on  the  tented  field,  and  with  the  beautiful  Rose 
Bradwardine  for  his  bride,  to  whom  he  owed  his  life, 
the  ending  of  the  tale  is  pleasant  enough.  Fergus 
Mac-Ivor  is  one  of  Scott's  gallant  est  figures,  although, 
as  it  has  been  said,  there  is  just  a  trifle  of  the  stage- 
property  Highland  chief  about  him— that  touch  of 
theatrical  unreality  which  mars  so  many  of  Scott's 
heroic  types.  Flora  Mac-Ivor,  accomplished  and  high- 
souled,  is  one  of  Scott's  few  genuine  heroines.  There 
is  a  suggestion  of  the  Ivanhoe  Rebecca  about  her  sense 
of  duty,  her  passionate  attachment  to  principle,  her 
courtly  renunciation  of  woman's  tenderest  preroga- 
tives. There  is  no  more  touching  scene  than  that  in 
which  Scott  describes  Flora's  farewell  to  Edward 
Waverley.  In  his  boyhood  at  Sandyknowe  Scott  had 
listened  to  the  story,  recounted  by  an  eye-witness,  of 
the  execution  of  the  Jacobite  rebels  at  Carlisle,  and  to 
that  memory  we  are  indebted  for  the  two  most  Shake- 
spearean chapters  in  the  novel.  "  Do  you  remember," 
said  Flora,  looking  up  with  a  ghastly  smile,  "  you  once 
found  me  making  Fergus's  bride-favours  ;  and  now  I 


"THE     BARON     OF     BRADWARDINE" 

am  sewing  his  bridal  garment.  Our  friends  here,"  she 
continued,  with  suppressed  emotion,  "  are  to  give  hal- 
lowed earth  in  their  chapel  to  the  bloody  relics  of  the 
last  Vich  Ian  Vohr.  But  they  will  not  all  rest  togeth- 
er ;  no,  his  head ! — I  shall  not  have  the  last  miserable 
consolation  of  kissing  the  cold  lips  of  my  dear,  dear 
Fergus  !  "  The  unfortunate  Flora,  after  one  or  two 
hysterical  sobs,  fainted  in  her  chair.  The  lady,  who 
had  been  attending  in  the  anteroom,  now  entered 
hastily,  and  begged  Edward  to  leave  the  room,  but 
not  the  house.  When  he  was  recalled,  after  the  space 
of  nearly  half  an  hour,  he  found  that,  by  a  strong 
effort,  Miss  Mac-Ivor  had  greatly  composed  herself. 
"  Give  this,"  she  said,  "  to  your  betrothed,  my  dearest 
Rose, — it  is  her  poor  Flora's  only  ornament  of  value, 
and  was  the  gift  of  a  princess."  She  put  into  his  hands 
a  case  containing  the  chain  of  diamonds  with  which 
she  used  to  decorate  her  hair.  "  To  me  it  is  in  future 
useless.  The  kindness  of  my  friends  has  secured  me 
a  retreat  in  the  convent  of  the  Scottish  Benedictine 
nuns  in  Paris.  To-morrow — if  indeed  I  can  survive 
to-morrow — I  set  forward  on  my  journey  with  this 
venerable  sister.  And  now,  Mr.  Waverley,  adieu  ! 
May  you  be  as  happy  with  Rose  as  your  amiable  dis- 
positions deserve,  and  think  sometimes  on  the  friends 
you  have  lost.  Do  not  attempt  to  see  me  again  ;  it 
would  be  mistaken  kindness."  She  gave  him  her 
hand,  on  which  Edward  shed  a  torrent  of  tears,  and 
with  a  faltering  step  withdrew  from  the  apartment, 
and  returned  to  the  town  of  Carlisle. 
9 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS   :  WAVERLEY 

Macwheeble,  a  semi-caricature,  is  a  type  of  character 
plentiful  in  the  Waverleys.  The  redoubtable  Donald 
Bean  Lean  (pronounced  Bane  Lane) ,  prince  of  Highland 
caterans,  and  Evan  Dhu  Maccombich,  Fergus  Mac- 
Ivor's  devoted  foster-brother,  with  Callum  Beg,  his 
shrewd  and  handsome  page,  are  all  strongly  limned 
portraits.  For  mine  host  of  the  Candlestick,  curious, 
crafty,  covetous,  Callum  exhibited  a  disposition  rather 
startling  to  Waverley.  He  had  no  scruples  about  the 
taking  of  human  life,  and  regarded  the  matter  in  a 
quite  nonchalant  fashion.  Being  Waverley 's  guide, 
he  observed  that  the  Englishman  was  annoyed  by  the 
curiosity  of  their  host. 

"  If  his  honour  thought  ta  auld  deevil  Whig  carle 
was  a  bit  dangerous,  she  could  easily  provide  for  him, 
and  teil  ane  ta  wiser." 

"  How,  and  in  what  manner  ?  " 

"  Her  ain  sell,"  replied  Callum,  "  could  wait  for  him 
a  wee  bit  frae  the  toun,  and  kittle  his  quarters  wi'  her 
skene-occle." 

"  Skene-occle  !     What's  that  ?  " 

Callum  unbuttoned  his  coat,  raised  his  left  arm,  and 
with  an  emphatic  nod  pointedto  the  hilt  of  a  small  dirk, 
snugly  deposited  under  it,  in  the  lining  of  his  jacket. 
Waverley  thought  he  had  misunderstood  his  mean- 
ing :  he  gazed  in  his  face,  and  discovered  in  Callum's 
very  handsome,  though  embrowned  features,  just  the 
degree  of  roguish  malice  with  which  a  lad  of  the  same 
age  in  England  would  have  brought  forward  a  plan 

for  robbing  an  orchard. 

10 


"THE     BARON     OF     BRADWARDINE" 

'  Good  God,  Callum,  would  you  take  the   man's 
life  ?  " 

"  Indeed,"  answered  the  young  desperado,  "  and  I 
think  he  has  had  just  a  lang enough  leaseo't,  when  he's 
for  betraying  honest  folk  that  come  to  spend  siller  at 
his  public.  .  .  .  Ta  duinhe-wassel  might  please  himsell ; 
ta  auld  rudas  loon  had  never  done  Callum  nae  ill." 

There  are  no  accepted  Originals  for  any  of  the 
above,  save,  perhaps,  for  Fergus,  for  whom  a  proto- 
type has  been  found  in  the  person  of  Macdonald  of 
Tirnadrish  (not  Tynedrish),  a  cadet  of  the  Macdonalds 
of  Keppoch.  There  is,  at  any  rate,  the  tradition  of  the 
window-sill  at  Carlisle  Castle,  on  which  the  indentation 
of  a  man's  fingers  is  said  to  be  traceable,  such  fingers 
being  those  of  the  brave  Macdonald.*  The  fate  of  the 

*  "  Next  night  Sir  Walter  rested  at  Carlisle.  .  .  .  After  that  we 
went  to  the  Castle,  where  a  new  showman  went  through  the  old 
trick  of  pointing  out  Fergus  Mac-Ivor's  very  dungeon.  Peveril 
said  :  '  Indeed  ? — are  you  quite  sure,  sir  ? '  and  on  being  told  there 
could  be  no  doubt,  was  troubled  with  a  fit  of  coughing,  which  end- 
ed in  a  laugh.  The  man  seemed  exceedingly  indignant :  so,  when 
papa  moved  on,  I  whispered  who  it  was.  I  wish  you  had  seen  the 
man's  start,  and  how  he  stared  and  bowed.  . .  ."  (Letter  from  Miss 
Scott,  1828.     See  Lockhart,  ix.  226,  Edin.  ed.) 

Fergus  Mac-Ivor  has  a  much  more  possible  prototype  in  Colonel 
Alexander  Ranaldson  Macdonell  of  Glengarry,  one  of  the  most  ty- 
pical Celts  of  his  race.  His  pride  and  heat  of  temper  were  quite 
equal  to  those  of  the  hero  of  fiction.  He  was  the  last  Highland 
chief  who  really  kept  up  the  state  and  customs  of  ancient  gaeldom 
to  their  full  extent.  When  he  travelled,  he  did  so  as  a  Gaelic 
Prince,  with  a  full  retinue  of  kilted  attendants,  not  a  single  arti- 
culus  lacking  of  a  Highland  chieftain's  tail.  He  was  a  great  friend 
of  Scott's,  who  writes  of  him  in  glowing  terms.  (See  Lockhart  for 
many  references.)  On  14th  January  1828  he  was  killed  in  the  at- 
tempt to  get  ashore  from  the  wrecked  steamer  Stirling  Castle. 
He  was  buried  in  the  cemetery  of  Killionan  where  many  of  the 
II 


THE    SCOTT   ORIGINALS   !    WAVERLEY 

Laird  of  Balmawhapple  was  borrowed  from  that  of 
David  Threipland  of  the  Fingask  family,  who  fell  at 
Prestonpans  in  the  manner  described  in  the  novel.* 
The  incident  said  to  have  happened  to  Flora  Mac-Ivor 
actually  befell  a  Miss  Nairne,  one  of  Scott's  women 
friends.  As  the  Highland  army  rushed  into  Edinburgh, 
Miss  Nairne,  like  other  ladies  who  approved  of  their 
cause,  stood  waving  her  handkerchief  from  a  balcony, 
when  a  ball  from  a  Highlander's  musket,  discharged 
by  accident,  grazed  her  forehead.  "Thank  God,"  said 
she, the  instant  she  recovered,  "that  the  accident  hap- 
pened to  me,  whose  principles  are  known.  Had  it  be- 
fallen a  Whig,  they  would  have  said  it  was  done  on 
purpose." 

II 

It  is  of  one  of  the  major  and,  if  the  phrase  may  be 
employed  consistently  with  Scott's  way  of  looking  at 
life,  of  one  of  the  minor  characters  for  whom  Originals 
have  been  suggested — the  whimsical  old  Baron,  and 
the  dreamy  simpleton,  Davie  Gellatley,  who  roasts 
eggs  and  makes  rhymes  with  equal  facility. 

However  much  of  a  weariness  the  loquacious  Brad- 
wardine  is  in  peril  of  becoming,  there  is  no  question  as 

heads  of  Glengarry  repose.  His  grand  ideas  about  the  state  of 
a  Macdonald  chief  helped  to  embarrass  the  estates,  the  whole  of 
which  were  sold  partly  in  his  son's  and  partly  in  his  grandson's 
time. 

*  "  Mr.  Threipland  had  the  misfortune,  in  attempting  to  over- 
take some  that  were  running  away,  to  be  kill'd  ;  his  horse  fell,  and 
an  officer  of  the  dragoons  seeing  he  was  alone,  turn'd  about  and 
shot  him." — Lord  Elcho's  Affairs  of  Scotland  (1907). 

12 


(( 


THE     BARON     OF     BRADWARDINE " 


to  the  excellent  account  which  he  gives  of  himself 
throughout  the  story.  He  is  a  man  of  solid  accomplish- 
ments and  great  worth,  albeit  "  one  of  Scott's  bores." 
More  than  once  it  is  his  good  common  sense  and  ready 
wit  which  save  the  situation.  He  is,  for  all  his  jargon, 
a  noble  specimen  of  the  old  Highlander,  far-descended, 
gallant,  courteous,  brave  even  to  chivalry. 

Hints  of  an  Original  come  from  Scott  himself.  This 
was  Alexander  Stewart  of  Invernahyle,  on  whose  val- 
our and  magnanimity  at  Prestonpans  the  plot  of  Wav- 
erley  is  made  to  turn.  To  Invernahyle,  Scott  owed 
much  of  his  knowledge  of  Highland  life  and  scenery. 
He  was  that  "  friend  of  my  childhood  who  first  in- 
troduced me  to  the  Highlands,  their  traditions  and 
manners,"  and  whose  visits  to  George  Square  were 
seasons  of  unbounded  delight  to  the  Scott  olive- 
branches.  To  this  picturesque  figure,  fighting  his 
battles  over  again  with  all  the  garrulousness  of  a 
veteran  campaigner,  much  of  the  inspiration  of  Wav- 
erley  was  no  doubt  due.  Invernahyle  had  been  "out ' ' 
with  Mar  and  with  "  Chairlie."  There  is  a  legend 
that  he  fought  a  duel  with  Rob  Roy,  wounding  him 
slightly  in  the  arm — enough  for  Rob  to  acknow- 
ledge defeat :  "  An  I  had  known  he  was  so  cunning  of 
fence,  I  had  seen  him  damned  ere  I  fought  him." 
Scott  says  he  saw  Invernahyle  "  in  arms  and  heard 
him  exult  in  the  prospect  of  drawing  his  claymore 
once  more  before  he  died,"  the  occasion  being  Paul 
Jones's  ridiculous  descent  on  Edinburgh  in  Sept- 
ember 1779.  Invernahyle's  behaviour  at  Preston- 
13 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS  I   WAVERLEY 

pans,  which  has  its  counterpart  in  Waverley,  is  de- 
scribed in  the  Introduction  to  the  novel,  as  well  as  in 
the  Introduction  to  the  Chronicles  oj  the  Canongate. 
The  Appin  Stewarts,  determined  that  the  victory 
should  be  a  decisive  one,  at  a  particular  crisis  in  the 
struggle  made  a  furious  onslaught,  beating  down 
Cope's  men  in  all  directions.  Invernahyle,  foremost 
in  the  mel6e,  observed  a  Georgian  officer  standing 
alone,  resolutely  grasping  his  sword  as  if  making  up 
his  mind  to  die  at  his  post.  Invernahyle  called  to 
him  to  surrender,  and  for  answer  received  a  sword- 
thrust  which  he  caught  in  his  targe.  The  officer  was 
now  defenceless,  and  would  have  been  cut  down  by 
the  miller  of  Invernahyle's  mill,  coming  up  at  the  mo- 
ment, had  not  Invernahyle  again  intervened.  There 
was  nothing  for  it  but  to  surrender,  liberty  on  parole 
being  afterwards  obtained.  The  prisoner  proved  to  be 
Colonel  Charles  (not  Allan)  Whitefoord  of  the  Bal- 
lochmyle  family,  a  distinguished  Royalist,  who  may 
therefore  stand  for  the  Colonel  Talbot  of  the  story.* 

*  It  is  curious  to  find  an  actual  Colonel  (Richard)  Talbot  figur- 
ing in  the  list  of  those  who  fought  at  Prestonpans.  As  field-officer 
of  the  day,  he  posted  the  outguards  the  night  before  the  battle. 
Colonel  Whitefoord  was  third  son  of  Sir  Adam  Whitefoord,  Bart. 
He  was  visiting  friends  in  Scotland  when  the  Rebellion  broke  out. 
"  We  are  alarm'd  here,"  he  writes  from  Edinburgh  in  August 
1745,  "  with  an  invasion  which  I  believe  will  end  in  smoke.  Cer- 
tain it  is  that  a  few  people  have  ianded  in  the  West  Highlands 
from  a  French  man-of-war,  but  their  number  is  so  inconsiderable 
that  they  only  serve  to  put  us  on  our  guard.  Sir  John  Cope  takes 
all  necessary  precautions,  and  has  himself  march'd  with  the  few 
troops  he  has  to  pay  them  his  compliments  on  their  arrival. 
They  must  be  either  fools  or  madmen,  or  perhaps  both,  to  make 
such  a  rash  attempt."     Whitefoord  volunteered  to  serve  His 

14 


COLONEL  CHARLES  WHITEFOORD 


"THE     BARON     OF     BRADWARDINE" 

Brought  so  strangely  together,  both  men  became  fast 
friends.  Invernahyle  actually  visited  Ballochmyle 
during  a  period  of  recruiting  for  the  Highland  army, 
spending  some  pleasant  days  with  his  Whig  inti- 
mates, without  any  speaking  on  either  side  of  the 
Civil  War  which  was  still  raging.  At  Culloden,  In- 
vernahyle was  wounded.  It  was  now  Whitefoord's 
opportunity  to  seek  clemency  for  his  honourable  op- 
ponent. The  most  he  could  wring  from  the  unwilling 
Cumberland  was  the  promise  of  protection  for  Stew- 
art's property  and  family.  Invernahyle  himself  was 
"  found  with  the  mark  of  the  beast  in  every  list,"  a 
subject  unfit  for  favour  or  pardon.  Soldiers  scoured 
the  Appin  district  for  weeks,  in  the  hope  of  finding 
their  man,  the  search  party  coming  frequently  within 
a  stone's  cast  of  his  hiding-place.  Like  the  Baron  of 
Bradwardine,  Invernahyle  lay  huddled  up  in  a  mere 
hole  of  a  crag  overlooking  his  own  house.    He  could 

Majesty  in  the  field,  without  any  private  view,  though  he  might 
have  been  Adjutant-General  or  Aide-de-camp  to  the  Commander- 
in-Chief.  His  papers  during  this  period  include  the  orders  given  at 
Edinburgh,  particulars  as  to  the  transports,  a  return  of  Murray's 
regiment,  a  list  of  the  Highland  clans,  the  order  of  march  from 
Haddington,  the  proposed  and  the  actual  order  of  battle  at  Pres- 
tonpans,  a  return  of  the  wounded  and  prisoners,  an  account  of  the 
battle  of  Culloden,  and  an  elaborate  defence  of  Cope.  At  Preston- 
pans  he  acted  as  Engineer,  fired  all  the  guns  which  were  discharg- 
ed on  that  occasion,  remained  at  his  post  till  all  his  powder  was 
expended,  when  he  was  wounded  and  taken  prisoner.  After  the 
Rebellion  there  is  nothing  of  particular  interest  in  his  career.  He 
became  Colonel  of  the  5th  Regiment  of  foot,  on  the  staff  in  Ireland, 
and  died  at  Galway,  2nd  January  1753  (not  24th  December  1752, 
as  stated  by  the  Scots  Maga.ine).  His  portrait,  in  oils,  is  in  the 
possession  of  the  Whitefoords  of  Whitton  Paddocks,  Ludlow.  See 
the  Whitefoord  Papers.  Ed.  W.  A.  S.  Hewins:  Oxford  1898. 
15 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS   :   WAVERLEY 

hear  the  muster-roll  called  every  morning,  the  drums 
beating  to  quarters  at  night,  and  not  a  change  of  the 
sentinels  escaped  him.  His  bodily  wants  were  sup- 
plied with  great  difficulty,  a  little  daughter  doing  the 
needful  as  she  had  opportunity.  He  ventured  home 
one  night,  and  in  the  morning  had  a  miraculous 
escape,  being  fired  on  and  pursued  to  the  hills  whi- 
ther he  betook  himself.  When  the  soldiers  returned, 
the  household  were  called  to  account  for  having  given 
shelter  to  a  proscribed  traitor,  but  an  old  woman 
stoutly  maintained  that  the  men  had  mistaken  the 
shepherd  for  the  laird.  "  Why  then,"  said  they,  "  did 
he  not  stop  when  we  called  him  ?  '  "  Because,"  was 
the  ready  reply,  "  he  is  stone  deaf."  The  real  shep- 
herd was  sent  for,  and  being  tutored  by  the  way,  act- 
ed the  deaf  man  to  perfection,  and  the  storm  blew 
over.  Invernahyle  was  pardoned  under  the  Act  of 
Indemnity  in  1747.  He  was  the  son  of  Duncan  Stew- 
art of  Invernahyle,  his  mother  being  a  Campbell  of 
Barcaldme.  He  married  Katherine  Stewart  of  Ap- 
pin,  and  left  Dugald  his  successor,  besides  five  other 
sons  and  nine  daughters.  His  death  took  place  in 
1795  at  an  advanced  age.  He  must  have  been  a 
mere  boy  at  the  time  of  the  Fifteen  in  which  he  is  re- 
puted to  have  had  a  part.* 

*  In  1778,  he  exchanged  his  lands  of  Invernahyle,  Inverpholla, 
and  Garrachoran,  for  the  lands  of  Acharn,  Belloch,  Keill,  and 
others.  He  afterwards  sold  Belloch  and  Keill.  Dugald  disposed 
of  the  remainder  of  the  lands,  and  died  at  Ardsheal  in  1840, 
leaving  no  issue.  The  present  representative  of  the  family  is 
Charles  Stewart,  son  of  Andrew  Francis  Stewart,  Edinburgh.  See 
The  Stewarts  of  A  ppin. 

\6 


"THE     BARON     OF      BRADWARDINE » 

The  portrait  of  Bradwardine,  like  its  compeers,  is 
composite  in  its  character.  There  are  features  in 
which  Invernahyle  has  nothing  in  common  with  the 
'  beloved  Baron  " — Thackeray's  phrase.  He  was  no 
scholar,  for  example,  and  consequently  devoid  of  pe- 
dantic words  ;  nor  had  Invernahyle  fought  the  "  for- 
eign loons  in  their  ain  countrie  " — a  prime  essential 
for  the  true  prototype.  Invernahyle's  generous  act 
at  Prestonpans,  his  outlawry  and  adventures  after 
Culloden,  are  constituent  parts  of  the  portrait,  but  as 
the  saviour  of  Colonel  Talbot  he  is  rather  the  antitype 
of  Waverley  than  of  the  master  of  Tully-Veolan. 

Ill 

It  was  Maria  Edgeworth's  father  who  made  the  state- 
ment that  if  noOriginal  couldbe  found  for  the  Baron  of 
Bradwardine,  it  "  required  more  genius  to  invent  and 
more  ability  to  uniformly  sustain  this  character  than 
any  one  of  the  variety  of  masterly  characters  with 
which  the  work  abounds."  There  were,  to  be  sure, 
many  brave,  scholarly  old  Scottish  gentlemen  in  the 
days  following  the  Forty-five,  who  might  well  have 
sat  for  the  picture  ;  but  Scott,  of  course,  could  hardly 
have  seen  the  best  of  them.  Alexander  Robertson  of 
the  Struan  family  and  Colonel  John  Roy  Stewart,  the 
Gaelic  bard,  have  been  mentioned  in  this  connection. 
But  the  last  Lord  Pitsligo  is  believed  to  answer  to 
the  part  with  characteristic  fidelity.    Pitsligo  passed 

away  nine  years  before  Scott  appeared  on  the  scene. 
17  B 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS  :   WAVERLEY 

His  remarkable  career,  however,  and  the  admirable 
character  of  the  man  were  on  everybody's  lips  when 
Scott  was  a  boy.  It  is  not  unreasonable  to  suppose 
that  Scott  had  Pitsligo  in  view  in  painting  his  pic- 
ture of  the  rare  old  Jacobite.  The  portrait  in  Wav- 
erley  offers  some  resemblance  to  him. 

"  He  was  a  tall,  thin,  athletic  figure,  old  indeed, 
and  grey-haired,  but  with  every  muscle  rendered 
tough  as  whipcord  by  constant   exercise.     He  was 
dressed  carelessly,  and  more  like  a  Frenchman  than 
an  Englishman  of  the  period,  while,  from  hishard  fea- 
tures and  perpendicular  rigidity  of  stature,  he  bore 
some  resemblance  to  a  Swiss  officer  of  the  Guards  who 
had  resided  some  time  in  Paris,  and  had  caught  the 
costume,  but  not  the  ease  or  manner  of  its  inhabitants." 
Other  similarities  favour  the  Pitsligo  identification. 
Take  the  following:  "Mr.  Bradwardine  had  travelled 
with  high  reputation  for  several  years,  and  made  some 
campaigns  in  foreign  service.    After  his  demele  with 
the  law  of  high  treason  in  1715,  he  had  lived  in  retire- 
ment, conversing  almost  entirely  with  those  of  his  own 
principlesin  the  vicinage ' ' — a  statement  which  applies 
with  absolute  perfectness  to  Lord  Pitsligo.    Or  take 
these  :     "  To  this  must  be  added  the  prejudices  of 
ancient  birth  and  Jacobite  politics,  greatly  strength- 
ened by  habits  of  solitary  and  secluded  authority, 
which,  though  exercised  only  within  the  bounds  of  his 
half-cultivated  estate,  was  there  indisputable  and  un- 
disputed."    "  He  was  of  a  very  ancient  family,  and 

somewhat  embarrassed  fortune  :  a  scholar,  according 

18 


"THE     BARON     OF     BRADWARDINE" 

to  the  scholarship  of  Scotchmen, — that  is,  his  learning 
was  more  diffuse  than  accurate,  and  he  was  rather  a 
reader  than  a  grammarian."  "  Latin  he  could  speak 
with  as  great  facility  as  his  own  good  Scots."  It 
may  be  remarked  that,  like  Bradwardine,  Pitsligo 
had  two  bears  as  supporters  of  his  shield.*  The  Pit- 
sligo lands  were  formerly  owned  by  the  Comyns, 
whence  probably  the  name  of  the  immortal  Cosmo 
Comyn  was  borrowed. 

Lord  Pitsligo,  properly  Lord  Forbes  of  Pitsligo, 
son  of  the  third  peer,  was  born  22nd  May  1678. 
His  mother  was  daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Mar.  Whilst 
still  a  minor,  Alexander  Forbes  inherited  the  family 
title  and  estates.  Like  many  a  wandering  Scot, 
scholarship  and  the  pursuit  of  arms  attracted  him 
to  the  Continent.  In  Paris  he  fell  under  the  spell 
of  Madame  Guyon  and  the  Quietists,  an  influence 
which  coloured  his  whole  career.  When  he  returned 
home  at  the  age  of  twenty-two,  he  took  his  seat  in  the 
Scots  Parliament  and  strenuously  opposed  the  Union. 
With  Union  his  political  life  came  to  an  end.  He  re- 
tired to  his  castle  at  Pitsligo  in  the  resolve  to  devote 
his  days  to  study  and  deeds  of  charity.  The  call  of 
Mar,  however,  found  him  eager  and  willing  to  take 
the  field  for  the  Stuarts.  Pitsligo  was  a  conspicuous 
figure  at  Sheriffmuir.  When  we  again  meet  with  him, 
it  is  at  James's  mimic  Court  at  Rome,  with  other 

*  The  Blessed  Bear  of  Bradwardine — that  poculum  potatorium 
which  figured  so  prominently  in  the  fortunes  of  Tully-Veolan — 
had  its  prototype  in  the  Glamis  silver  Lion  whose  contents  Scott 
himself  had  quaffed* 

19 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS  !   WAVERLEY 

Scotsmen  who  had  fled  on  the  failure  of  the  Fifteen 
attempt.  By  and  by,  he  was  allowed  to  return  to 
Scotland.  The  next  twenty-five  years  of  his  life  were 
comparatively  uneventful.  He  spent  most  of  his  time 
among  his  books,  at  his  favourite  subjects — Mystical 
Literature  and  the  Latin  Classics.  Bradwardine's 
zeal  for  the  latter  (borrowed  from  an  actual  occur- 
rence in  the  career  of  a  Highland  trooper)  Scott  illus- 
trates in  a  well-known  incident  :  "  On  the  road  be- 
tween Preston  and  London  he  made  his  escape  from 
his  guards ;  but  being  afterwards  found  loitering  near 
the  place  where  they  had  lodged  the  former  night,  he 
was  recognised,  and  again  arrested.  His  companions, 
and  even  his  escort,  were  surprised  at  his  infatuation, 
and  could  not  help  inquiring  why,  being  once  at  liber- 
ty, he  had  not  made  the  best  of  his  way  to  a  place  of 
safety ;  to  which  he  replied  that  he  had  intended  to  do 
so,  but,  in  good  faith,  he  had  returned  to  seek  his  Titus 
Livius,  which  he  had  forgot  in  the  hurry  of  his  escape." 
At  the  age  of  sixty-seven  occurred  the  most  extra- 
ordinary episode  in  Lord  Pitsligo's  life, — the  active 
part  he  took  in  the  Forty-five.  Old  though  he  was,  and 
asthmatic, he  joined  the  Prince  in  his  rash  attempt.  He 
put  himself  at  the  head  of  a  hundred  men  of  Buchan. 
A  friend's  son  brought  a  chair  and  put  it  beside  Pit- 
sligo's charger  that  the  old  man  might  mount  with- 
out difficulty.  The  veteran  looked  at  the  boy  and 
said,  "  This  is  the  severest  rebuke  I  have  yet  received 
for  presuming  to  go  upon  such  an  expedition."   The 

fighting  blood  was  up,  however.    Pushing  the  stool 

20 


LORD  FORBES  OF   PITSLIGO 

"Baron  Bradwardine  " 


"THE     BARON     OF     BRADWARD1NE" 

aside,  he  placed  his  foot  on  the  stirrup,  leapt  on  the 
horse's  back  and  rode  off.  Arrived  in  Aberdeen,  he  is 
said  to  have  taken  off  his  cap,  to  have  solemnly  looked 
up  to  heaven,  repeating  the  words,  "  Lord,  Thou 
knowest  that  our  Cause  is  just,"  and  then  to  have 
given  the  order,  "  March,  gentlemen."  When  the 
crash  came,  Pitsligo  lost  his  lands,*  while  managing 
to  keep  his  head  on  his  shoulders.  For  many  a  weary 
year  he  was  hunted  like  a  beast  of  prey  amongst 
the  Aberdeenshire  wilds.  A  cave  at  Rosehearty  goes 
by  his  name,  and  at  Maud  and  other  parts  Pitsligo's 
hiding-places  are  still  pointed  out.  Buchan  has  not  a 
more  thrilling  romance  than  the  tale  of  this  fine  old 
Cavalier's  wanderings  and  numerous  hair-breadth 
escapes.  In  beggar's  garb  he  passed  from  door  to 
door,  a  veritable  "  Edie  Ochiltree."  His  wife  sewed 
"  pokes  "  for  his  gowpens  of  meal  and  scraps  of  food. 
His  own  people  knew  who  he  was,  to  be  sure,  and 
never  were  peasants  more  loyal — never  was  secret 
better  kept.  He  was  only  "  an  old  man  in  distress  " 
if  they  scented  danger.  But  in  their  homes  they  did 
him  honour,  giving  him  the  cosiest  corner  at  their 
peat-fires,  and  at  night  the  best  bed  to  sleep  in. 
There  were  critical  occasions.  Once  he  was  seized 
with  an  asthmatic  fit  just  as  a  patrol  of  soldiers  came 

*  The  Master  of  Forbes  bought  back  the  attainted  estates,  but 
resold  part  of  them  in  1759.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  re- 
mainder, in  course  of  time,  came  into  the  possession  of  Sir  William 
Forbes,  the  banker,  Scott's  friend.  Upon  his  death,  they  were  in- 
herited by  Scott's  rival  for  the  hand  of  Williamina  Belsches.  Lord 
Clinton,  the  great-grandson  of  Scott's  first  love,  is  now  proprietor. 
21 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS  I   WAVERLEY 

up  behind  him.  He  had  no  other  expedient  but  to 
sit  down  by  the  roadside  and  beg  alms  of  the  party. 
One  of  them  tossed  him  a  coin,  condoling  with  him  on 
his  affliction.  At  another  time  he  was  surprised  in  a 
cobbler's  house,  and  obliged  for  the  moment  to  as- 
sume the  tools  and  dress  of  St.  Crispin.  Again,  sol- 
diers on  the  look-out  for  Pitsligo  begged  a  farmer's 
wife  to  give  them  a  guide  to  his  suspected  place  of 
concealment.  The  good  dame  said  she  had  no  per- 
son to  send  with  them,  "unless  that  travelling  man 
would  take  the  trouble."  A  beggar,  who  was  the 
traveller,  rose  up  and  offered  to  show  the  road.  The 
soldiers  went  with  him.  He  conducted  them  to  the 
cave  ;  where  they  found  no  Lord  Pitsligo,  who,  how- 
ever, was  not  far  distant,  being  the  very  mendicant 
himself. 

By  and  by  the  persecution  slackened  and  the 
search  was  abandoned.  Pitsligo  spent  his  last  years 
at  Auchiries,  the  house  of  his  only  son,  the  Master  of 
Forbes,  and  it  was  there  that  he  died,  21st  December 
1762.  Lord  Pitsligo  was  author  of  a  little  religious 
meditation — Thoughts  concerning  Mans  Condition 
and  Duties  in  this  Life  and  his  Hopes  in  the  World  to 
come — which  passed  through  four  editions,  the  last  be- 
ing published  by  Blackwood  in  1854,  with  a  Memoir 
by  Lord  Medwyn,  and  a  Review  contributed  by  Scott 
to  Blackwood's  Magazine  in  1829.  He  was  also  the 
author  of  a  volume  of  Essays  Moral  and  Philosophical, 
published  in  1763,  which  is  at  once  a  testimony  to  his 

scholarship  and  piety. 

22 


"THE     BARON     OF     BRADWARDINE" 

Lord  Pitsligo's  name  is  honoured  in  Buchan  to  this 
day.  As  patriot,  outlaw,  scholar,  saint,  he  is,  one 
may  almost  say,  Buchan's  most  outstanding  person- 
ality. His  self-sacrificing  endurance  after  Culloden, 
and  the  beautiful  contentment  of  the  man,  are  cir- 
cumstances of  which  all  Buchan  natives  are  proud. 
Scott  affirmed  that  Pitsligo's  heroism  was  "  above  all 
Greek  and  Roman  praise."  Dr.  King,  the  Jacobite 
Head  of  St.  Mary's  Hall,  Oxford,  "  a  severe  and 
splenetic  judge,"  declared  that  among  all  his  ac- 
quaintances he  had  known  only  one  person  to  whom 
he  could  with  truth  assign  "  the  character  of  perfect 
charitableness  and  perfect  heroism — the  present  Lord 
Pitsligo  of  Scotland."  Another  thinks  he  was  "fit 
to  have  been  a  martyr  in  the  days  of  Nero."  Still 
another  that  he  was  the  "  most  popular  man  in  his 
country,  not  beloved,  but  adored,  being  ever  em- 
ployed in  doing  good  offices  to  his  neighbours."  And 
a  high  contemporary  authority  describes  him  as  "  as- 
suredly the  best  husband,  the  best  father,  the  best 
friend,  and  the  best  subject  in  Britain." 

His  burial-place  is  the  old  church  of  Pitsligo  where 
others  of  the  family  are  resting,  as  the  following  in- 
scription shows  : — 


23 


THE    SCOTT   ORIGINALS  !  WAVERLEY 


Within  this  vault  rests  all  that  is  mortal  of  the 

Following  members  of  the  family  of 

FORBES  OF  PITSLIGO. 

*  + 
Alexander,  ist  Lord  of  Pitsligo.     Died  1636. 

His  wife,  Joan  Keith,  daughter  of  William,  Earl  Marischai. 
Alexander,  2nd  Lord  Forbes  of  Pitsligo.    Died  1677. 
His  wife,  Mary  Erskine,  daughter  of  James,  Earl  of  Buchan. 
Alexander,  3RD  Lord  Forbes  of  Pitsligo.     Died  1690. 

His  children,  Charles  and  Jean. 
His  wife,  Sophia  Erskine,  daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Mar. 
Alexander,  4TH  Lord  Forbes  of  Pitsligo.     Attainted  1746. 

Died  1762. 
His  first  wife,  Rebecca  Norton. 
His  second  wife,  Elizabeth  Allen. 
John,  Master  of  Pitsligo.     Died  1781. 
His  wife,  Rebecca  Ogilvie,  daughter  of  James  Ogilvie 
of  Auchiries. 

*  + 

In  their  memory  this  plate  is  erected  by  their 

Successor  and  Descendant 

Charles  Forbes  Trefusis 

of  Pitsligo. 

1893. 


CHAPTER    TWO 

WAVERLEY 
"DAVIE   GELLATLEY" 


His  folly  served  to  make  folks  laugh, 
When  wit  and  mirth  were  scarce." 

Swift. 


CHAPTER  TWO 

WAVERLEY— "DAVIE  GELLATLEY" 

IT  MUST  BE  ADMITTED  THAT  WAVERLEY 
'  flags  "  at  the  outset.  Readers  who  wish  to  get  to 
the  story  will  be  content  to  skip  the  first  half-dozen 
chapters  or  so,  for  only  after  that  does  the  curtain 
begin  to  rise  on  expectancy.  As  Scott  observes,  how- 
ever, there  were  circumstances  recorded  in  those  in- 
troductory chapters  which  he  could  not  persuade  him- 
self to  retract  or  cancel.  These  "  circumstances  "  were 
probably  Waverley's  desultory  studies,  his  romantic 
readings,  which  are  really  autobiographic. 

It  is  when  the  hero  has  ridden  through  the  village 
of  Tully-Veolan,  when  he  has  arrived  at  the  mansion 
of  that  name,  that  interest  in  the  story  properly  begins. 
Scott  says  he  had  no  particular  domicile  in  view  in 
describing  Tully-Veolan — the  most  celebrated  manor- 
house  in  fiction.  The  peculiarities  of  the  place,  he  re- 
marks, were  common  to  certain  old  Scottish  seats,  of 
which  he  mentions  the  Edinburgh  Houses  of  Brunts- 
field  and  Ravelston,  and  Grandtully  Castle,*  in  Perth- 
shire. But  if  any  surviving  structure  may  be  con- 
sidered an  original,  or  closely  resembling  it,  Traquair 
in  Peeblesshire  must  carry  off  that  honour.  Bears  and 
all,  it  is  as  like  Tully-Veolan  as  any  ancient  house  in 
Scotland  can  be.  Scott's  intimate  knowledge  of  the 
place,  his  frequent  visits  to  it,  and  the  impression 

*  The  name  Tully-Veolan  was  devised  by  combining  the  last 
part  of  Grandtully  with  the  last  part  of  Ballyveolan,  in  Argyll- 
shire.   Similarly  the  place  itself  is  a  composite.     Craighall,  near 
Blairgowrie,  no  doubt  furnished  hints. 
27 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS   !  WAVERLEY 

which  such  a  history-haunted  pile  was  likely  to  make 
on  his  imagination  suggest  the  tolerable  certainty  of 
its  having  at  least  formed  the  study  for  the  more  fin- 
ished and  bolder-featured  picture.  The  avenue  in  the 
novel  was  undoubtedly  modelled  from  the  avenue  at 
Traquair,  bating  an  archway,  which  Traquair  never 
had.  The  twin  Bears,  masses  of  upright  stone  battered 
by  the  blasts  of  many  winters,  still  frown  on  the  high- 
way, and  there  is  about  the  whole  scene  (on  which  mod- 
ernity has  set  no  ruthless  hand)  a  solitude  and  a  repose 
as  profound  as  on  the  day  when  Waverley  "  walked 
slowly  down,  enjoying  the  grateful  and  cooling  shade, 
and  so  much  pleased  with  the  placid  ideas  of  rest  and 
seclusion  excited  by  this  confined  and  quiet  scene 
that  he  forgot  the  misery  and  dirt  of  the  hamlet  he 
had  left  behind  him.  The  opening  into  the  paved 
courtyard  corresponded  with  the  rest  of  the  scene. 
The  house,  which  seemed  to  consist  of  two  or  three 
high,  narrow,  and  steep-roofed  buildings,  projecting 
from  each  other  at  right  angles,  formed  one  side  of  the 
enclosure.  It  had  been  built  at  a  period  when  castles 
were  no  longer  necessary,  and  when  the  Scottish 
architects  had  not  yet  acquired  the  art  of  designing 
a  domestic  residence.  The  windows  were  number- 
less, but  very  small ;  the  roof  had  some  nondescript 
kind  of  projections,  called  bartizans,  and  displayed 
at  each  frequent  angle  a  small  turret,  rather  re- 
sembling a  pepper-box  than  a  Gothic  watch-tower. 
Neither  did  the  front  indicate  absolute  security  from 

danger.    There  were  loopholes  for  musketry,  and  iron 

28 


"DAVIE  GELLATLEY" 

stanchions  on  the  lower  windows,  probably  to  repel  any 
roving  band  of  gypsies,  or  resist  a  predatory  visit  from 
the  caterans  of  the  neighbouring  Highlands.  Stables 
and  other  offices  occupied  another  side  of  the  square." 
Scott's  hero  almost  despaired  of  gaining  entrance 
into  the  apparently  enchanted  domicile.  Save  for  the 
plashing  of  a  fountain,  the  place  was  wrapt  in  a 
solemn  silence  : 

Nor  voice  was  heard,  nor  wight  was  seen  in  bower  or  hall. 

But  Waverley's  quick  eyes  caught  sight  of  a  little 
oaken  door  set  in  the  courtyard  wall,  on  the  other 
side  of  which  he  hoped  to  hear  or  see  some  sign  of 
life.  He  found  that  this  admitted  him  to  the  garden 
— "  a  pleasant  scene  "  (pictured  from  the  garden  at 
Ravelston) ;  and  it  was  here  that  the  curious  person- 
age whose  name  heads  this  chapter  was  encountered. 
Waverley  was  at  once  struck  with  the  strange  garb 
and  the  no  less  odd  gestures  of  the  figure  who  made 
his  approach.  "  Sometimes  this  mister  wight  held  his 
hands  clasped  over  his  head,  like  an  Indian  Jogue  in 
the  attitude  of  penance ;  sometimes  he  swung  them 
perpendicularly,  like  a  pendulum,  on  each  side  ;  and 
anon  he  slapped  them  swiftly  and  repeatedly  across 
his  breast,  like  the  substitute  used  by  a  hackney- 
coachman  for  his  usual  flogging  exercise  when  his 
cattle  are  idle  upon  the  stand,  in  a  clear,  frosty  day. 
His  gait  was  as  singular  as  his  gestures,  for  at  times 
he  hopped  with  great  perseverance  on  the  right  foot, 
then  exchanged  that  supporter  to  advance  in  the 

same  manner  on  the  left,  and  then,  putting  his  feet 
29 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS   :  WAVERLEY 

close  together,  he  hopped  upon  both  at  once.  His 
attire  also  was  antiquated  and  extravagant.  It  con- 
sisted in  a  sort  of  grey  jerkin,  with  scarlet  cuffs  and 
slashed  sleeves,  showing  a  scarlet  lining ;  the  other 
parts  of  the  dress  corresponded  in  colour,  not  forget- 
ting a  pair  of  scarlet  stockings  and  a  scarlet  bonnet 
proudly  surmounted  with  a  turkey's  feather.  Ed- 
ward, whom  he  did  not  seem  to  observe,  now  per- 
ceived confirmation  in  his  features  of  what  the  mien 
and  gestures  had  already  announced.  It  was  appar- 
ently neither  idiocy  nor  insanity  which  gave  that 
wild,  unsettled,  irregular  expression  to  a  face  which 
naturally  was  rather  handsome,  but  something  that 
resembled  a  compound  of  both,  where  the  simplicity  of 
the  fool  was  mixed  with  the  extravagance  of  a  crazed 
imagination.  He  sung  with  great  earnestness,  and  not 
without  sometaste.afragment  of  an  old  Scottish  ditty." 
This  was  Davie  Gellatley,  who  plays  his  part  in  the 
story  not  at  all  badly,  albeit  a  fool.  The  key  to 
Davie's  character  is  indicated  by  the  Scots  phrase  put 
into  the  mouth  of  the  major-domo  in  reply  to  Waver- 
ley's  interrogation,  "He  is  an  innocent,"  meaning  a 
born  simpleton,  yet  in  the  possession  of  a  degree  of 
sanity  and  mother-wit  which  shine  out  on  occasion, 
not  unfrequently  at  the  psychological  moment.  Per- 
sons of  the  Gellatley  stamp  were  often  exceedingly 
serviceable,  as  Waverley  had  reason  to  know.  They 
could  run  errands,  carry  letters,  cloud  even  be  en- 
trusted with  secrets.  But  manual  labour  was  an- 
athema to  the  tribe.     Davie  "  used  to  work  a  day's 

30 


it 


DAVIE  GELLATLEY" 


turn  weel  eneugh  ;  but  he  helped  Miss  Rose  when 
she  was  flemit  with  the  Laird  of  Killancureit's  new 
English  bull,  and  since  that  time  we  ca'  him  Davie 
Do-little, — indeed  we  might  ca'  him  Davie  Do-nae- 
thing,  for  since  he  got  that  gay  clothing,  to  please 
his  Honour  and  my  young  mistress,  he  has  done  nae- 
thing  but  dance  up  and  down  about  the  toun,  without 
doing  a  single  turn,  unless  trimming  the  laird's  fish- 
ing-wand or  busking  his  flies,  or  maybe  catching  a 
dish  of  trouts  at  an  orra-time." 

These  "  innocents,"  or  "  naturals,"  were,  as  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  incapable  of  constant  and  steady  exertion, 
though  many  of  them  were  endowed  with  remarkable 
strength  of  limb  and  a  robustness  to  be  envied.  Gel- 
latley,  for  instance,  excelled  in  field  sports.  Scott  re- 
presents him  as  a  creature  of  warm  affections,  fond  of 
animals,  blessed  with  a  prodigious  memory,  and  a 
turn  for  music. 

In  days  gone  by  there  was  not  a  town  or  coun- 
try district  but  had  its  "  fool  "  or  its  "  innocent." 
Conspicuous  and  pitiful  figures  on  the  village  street 
many  of  them  were — the  butt  of  schoolboys,  and  of 
older  tormentors.  Thanks  to  the  more  humane  con- 
ditions of  modern  life,  such  scenes  are  now  almost, 
if  not  altogether,  impossible.  Davie  Gellatley,  oc- 
cupies a  position  which  did  not  fall  to  the  "  daft 
Jamies  "  and  the  "  simple  Sandies  "  of  the  street. 
In  Scotland,  the  fool  was  a  common  appendage  of 
early  Court  life,  and  down  to  a  late  period  he  con- 
tinued to  hold  his  place  in  the  establishments  of 
3i 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS   :   WAVERLEY 

various  wealthy  noblemen.  There  was  the  Earl  of 
Wemyss'sfool,  Willie  Howieson,  a  Haddington  "inno- 
cent," whose  services  at  Gosford  were  not  unlike  those 
of  Gellatley  at  Tully-Veolan.  It  was  compassion,  rather 
than  custom,  which  fostered  the  good  fortune  both  of 
Howieson  and  the  fictitious  Davie.  They  were,  how- 
ever, relics  of  an  era  when  the  laird  and  his  followers 
must  needs  be  entertained  by  the  rude  humour  and 
buffoonery  of  the  jester  in  the  absence  of  more  refined 
relaxations.  Only  Gellatley  is  more  than  jester.  He 
amuses,  yet  he  wins  confidence  also,  and  in  a  variety 
of  circumstances  renders  the  most  genuine  help  to 
Bradwardine  and  Miss  Rose.  One  must  laugh  at 
his  whimsicalities  ;  spite  of  his  crazedness,  his  heart 
is  in  the  right  place.  Like  Caleb  Balderstone,  An- 
drew Fairservice,  and  others  of  the  kidney,  he  lives 
not  less  by  his  loyalty  than  by  his  jokes  and  oddities, 
his  happy  tricks  and  song-snatches.  His  mother,  old 
Janet  Gellatley 's  verdict  about  him  "whom  she  loved, 
her  idiot  boy,"  was  as  good  as  any  :  "  Davie's  no 
juist  like  other  folk,  puir  fallow,  but  he's  no  sae  silly 
as  folk  tak'  him  for."  But  Alexander  ab  Alexandro 
and  Macwheeble  had  their  own  suspicions  of  Davie, 
in  whom  they  saw  more  of  knave  than  of  fool. 

Surely  Morritt  of  Rokeby  was  mistaken  in  assuming 
as  the  Original  of  Davie  Gellatley,  William  Stewart 
Rose's  valet,  David  Hinves.  Except  for  the  Chris- 
tian name,  there  was  little  other  likeness.  Hinves,  a 
bookbinder  by  trade,  and  Methodist  local  preacher 

to  boot,  came  into  Rose's  service  as  the  result  of  a 

32 


DAFT  JOCK  GRAY 
"  Davit-  Gellatley  " 


" DAVIE  GELLATLEY 


j? 


sermon  which  Rose  heard  him  preach  under  a  tree 
in  the  New  Forest.  Master  and  man  they  lived  to- 
gether for  forty  years  without  so  much  as  a  quarrel 
arising  between  them.  Scott  (who  presented  Hinves 
with  all  his  works)  declared  that  he  was  as  much  a 
piece  of  Rose  as  Trim  was  of  Uncle  Toby.  Hinves 
may  have  furnished  hints  for  the  portrait  of  Gellatley, 
but  the  one  was  certainly  not  a  transcript  of  the  other. 


II 

Throughout  the  Border  country,  Daft  Jock  Gray  is 
considered thetrue  Original  of  Davie  Gellatley.  There 
is  no  gainsaying  the  fact  that  Jock  answers  to  his  liter- 
ary double  in  an  astonishing  number  of  ways.  It  is 
Jock's  lineaments  which  look  out  from  the  pages  of 
the  novel — Jock's  quaint,  queer  self  who  has  appar- 
ently been  limned  in  the  simpleton  of  Tully-Veolan. 
Scott  knew  him  as  a  visitor  at  Ashestiel,  and  in  the 
first  days  at  Abbotsford.  Everywhere  on  his  native 
heath  Jock  was  known  as  "  the  ladle,"  or  "  Jock  the 
ladle."  This  cognomen  he  derived  from  a  song 
which  he  rehearsed  at  the  Border  fairs  and  wherever 
his  peregrinations  carried  him — 

"  There  cam'  a  man  doon  frae  the  mune, 
Doon  frae  the  mune,  doon  frae  the  mune  : 
There  cam'  a  man  doon  frae  the  mune, 
An'  they  ca'd  him  Wullie  Wud. 
An'  he  played  upon  a  ladle, 

A  la-dle,  a  la-dle ; 
He  play'd  upon  a  la-dle, 
An'  his  name  was  Wullie  Wud." 

33  c 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS   ;  WAVERLEY 

There  were  two  Jock  Grays — pere  et  fils.  No  more 
"  kenspeckle  "  couple  tramped  the  Border  highways 
and  byways  from  Berwick  to  the  Beild,  from  Ettrick 
Kirk  to  Roxburgh  Castle.  The  best  account  of  the  pair 
is  from  the  pen  of  Thomas  Aird,  who  refers  to  them 
in  his  Old  Bachelor.  Bowden  was  one  of  their  howfs, 
and  Aird's  parents  were  kind  to  the  wanderers. 

"  The  father  was  one  of  the  very  smallest  of  men, 
but  one  of  the  Truest  Bluest  of  Covenanting  Scot- 
land's 'True  Blue' ;  and  being  thus,  almost  of  course, 
an  Old  Light  Anti-burgher,  he  was  compelled  to  toddle 
to  the  sacraments  of  this  denomination  many  a  weary 
mile,theircongregationsbeingverythin-sownthrough- 
out  the  south  of  Scotland.  As  he  made  it  a  point  of 
conscience  not  to  miss  one  of  these  solemn  occasions 
in  the  three  counties  already  referred  to,  he  was  seen 
far  and  wide  on  his  periodical  tramps  along  the  Scot- 
tish Border;  while,  moreover,  twice  a  year,  he  ascend- 
ed to  the  metropolis  to  sit  down  under  Paxton  or 
M'Crie,  with  feelings  akin  to  those  of  the  old  Hebrew 
who  went  yearly  up  to  the  Passover  at  Jerusalem. 
In  all  such  pious  pilgrimages  his  son,  Jock,  was  his 
constant  attendant,  or  rather  follower.  Here  march- 
ed the  old  little  Presbyterian  in  front,  often  with  the 
Bible  in  his  hand  ;  never  failing  in  his  track,  but  al- 
ways fifty  yards  or  so  behind,  daft  Jock,  bare-headed, 
brought  up  the  rear  :  Wherever  old  Johnie  was  seen, 
daft  Jock  was  not  far  behind  :  Wherever  daft  Jock 
was  seen,  old  Johnie  was  not  far  before.  If  any  pass- 
ing stranger  bestowed  a  penny  on  the  poor  idiot,  he 

34 


I  ( 


DAVIE  GELLATLEY" 


immediately  trotted  up  to  his  sire  with  his  unvarying 
'  Father,  there's  a  penny,'  and  having  deposited  it 
with  the  old  man,  who  never  begged  himself,  but  yet 
never  declined  any  offerings  thus  vouchsafed  to  Jock, 
he  immediately  fell  back  again  to  his  proper  place  in 
the  rear  with  the  utmost  deference.  At  night,  on 
their  way,  they  drew  to  stated  places  of  sojourn,  where 
some  shepherd  Gains  of  the  hills,  or  village  elder, 
or  most  commonly  some  pious  sympathetic  matron 
'  had  them '  (as  John  Bunyan  phrases  it)  to  a  decent 
bed  in  the  '  bauks  '  after  supper  :  But  never  before 
the  ordinance  of  family  worship  was  observed,  at 
which  little  Johnie  never  failed  to  act  as  priest,  his 
spiritual  gifts  being  great,  and  his  desire  to  exercise 
them  not  small.  Many  a  knotty  argument  in  the 
Bostonian  divinity,  and  many  a  fierce  pressing  of  the 
Covenant  on  the  lukewarm  disciples  of  these  degener- 
ate times,  varied  throughout  the  evening  the  tongue- 
doughty  champion-ship  of  the  tough  old  Seceder." 

Though  bred  a  weaver,  Jock  senior  abandoned  the 
loom  for  the  easier  and  more  romantic  calling  of  an 
itinerant  vendor  of  small  wares,  videlicet,  packman. 
A  native  of  Ettrick,  he  lived  for  a  time  at  Cross- 
lea,  where  his  son  was  born.  Then  he  moved  down 
the  valley  to  Lochstocks,  near  Selkirk,  and  finally  to 
a  house  in  Selkirk  Loan.  There  paralysis  laid  hold 
of  him  about  the  beginning  of  1837,  and  he  died  in 
little  more  than  a  month,  at  the  advanced  age  of 
eighty-six  years.  All  that  could  be  learned  at  the 
time  about  his  forebears  was  that  he  was  grandson  on 
35 


THE    SCOTT   ORIGINALS  !   WAVERLEY 

his  mother's  side  to  John  Currie  (native  of  Berwick- 
shire) who  was  minister's  man  to  Boston  of  Ettrick, 
and  one  of  his  pious  elders  (see  Boston's  Memoirs). 
Old  Jock  was  twice  married.  His  first  wife,  Euphan 
Robertson,  was  the  mother  of  Davie  Gellatley's  proto- 
type. His  second  wife  left  him  in  a  pet,  whereupon 
the  two  Jocks  took  to  the  road  for  the  remainder  of 
their  days. 

Jock  junior,  who  was  born  about  the  end  of  1776, 
was  nothing  more  than  an  idiot  — but  a  most  favourable 
specimen  of  the  class.  He  was,  of  course,  incapable 
of  receiving  instruction.  He  resisted  every  attempt 
to  set  him  to  some  simple  employment.  He  was  in- 
tolerably lazy.  People  on  the  whole  were  kind  to 
him,  and  he  was  much  attached  to  those  who  showed 
him  kindness.  As  befitted  one  who  was  a  Baron's 
"  fool,"  Jock  has  a  somewhat  glorified  description  in 
Waverley,  but  his  appearance  at  all  times  was  unique 
and  conspicuous.  He  wore  knee-breeches  ;  his  stock- 
ings were  fastened  by  the  flashiest  red  garters  tied 
neatly  in  a  rose-knot .  He  had  a  penchant  for  the  most 
glaring  colours,  for  the  cart-wheel  type  of  buttons, 
for  the  tallest  of  tall  hats.  Thus  garbed,  he  was  his 
father's  constant  way-fellow.  During  one  of  their 
trips  to  Edinburgh,  Smellie  Watson,  R.S.A.,  got  hold 
of  daft  Jock,  and  painted  a  capital  portrait  of  the 
"  innocent."  The  picture  was  exhibited  at  the 
Scott  Centenary  Exhibition,  but  had  been  lost  sight  of 
for  many  years.  It  has  now  been  recovered,  and  is 
in  the  hands  of  the  representatives  of  the  late  Mr. 

36 


"DAVIE  GELLATLEY" 

Ralph  Dundas.  A  mere  glance  must  deepen  the  con- 
viction that  it  was  Jock's  veritable  physiognomy 
which  entered  into  the  immortal  portraiture  of  the 
fool  of  Waverley.  Jock's  is  a  rather  handsome  face,  but 
symptoms  of  the  weak  and  stagnant  brain  are  obvious. 

Jock  passed  away  in  the  house  of  a  Mrs.  Hall  at 
Selkirk,  ioth  June  1837,  about  four  months  after  his 
father — not  within  a  week,  according  to  Dr.  Russell's 
account.  The  two  Jocks  rest  somewhere  in  Selkirk's 
old  graveyard,  the  spot  long  since  forgotten. 

The  Jock  Gray  anecdotes  are  legion.  There  is  the 
story  of  Jock  at  Ettrick  Kirk — a  real-incident.  Jock 
mounted  the  pulpit  early  one  Sunday  morning. 
When  the  minister  appeared  and  found  his  place 
forestalled,  he  quietly  said,  "  Come  down,  sir ;  come 
down."  "  Na,  na,"  was  Jock's  reply,  "  come  ye  up, 
Mr.  Paton.  Come  ye  up.  They  are  a  stiff-necked  and 
rebellious  people  and  it'll  tak'  us  baith." 

Jock  was  a  noted  kirk-ganger,  but  the  most  restless 
being  who  ever  darkened  the  doors  of  a  Border 
sanctuary.  Dr.  James  Russell  tells  how  in  Yarrow 
Kirk,  which  Jock  frequently  attended,  Jock  would 
come  in  with  a  big  "  dunt  "  of  bread-and-butter  and 
cheese  in  his  hand,  munching  and  moving  about  from 
pew  to  pew.  Frequently  old  Dr.  Russell  (father  of 
Dr.  James)  was  forced  to  pause  during  the  service  and 
reprimand  Jock  for  his  antics,  or  peremptorily  order 
him  to  sit  still.  On  one  occasion  Jock  was  sadly  dis- 
comfited. Pushing  his  way  into  the  Eldinhope  ser- 
vants' seat,  he  made  as  if  he  were  about  to  speak  to 
37 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS    i  WAVERLEY 

some  of  them.  Fearful  of  his  conduct,  the  plough- 
man planted  a  big  hob-nailed  boot  on  the  bare  feet 
of  the  natural.  Imagine  the  consternation  when  poor 
Jock  wailed  out,  "  Oh  my  taes,  my  taes  !  ' 

One  day  Jock  took  his  place  in  the  pew  beside 
Henny  Scott,  a  Yarrow  body  who  was  rather  afraid 
of  the  half-wit.  When  Henny  moved  a  little  farther 
up  the  seat,  Jock  moved  also,  and  the  game  went  on 
until  he  had  her  firmly  pinned  against  the  wall  and 
in  a  state  of  collapse.  The  poor  old  soul  made  for  the 
manse  after  the  service,  totally  unnerved,  and  ex- 
plained her  sad  state  to  Mrs.  Russell  as  being  due  to 
fear  that  Jock  would  kiss  her  ! 

Dr.  Robert  Russell  accosted  Jock  on  one  occasion  : 
"John,  you  are  one  of  the  most  idle  boys  in  the  par- 
ish. You  might  at  least  herd  a  few  cows."  "  Me  herd 
cows  !   Me  herd  cows  !    I  dinna  ken  corn  frae  gersh." 

At  Midlem  Kirk  (an  Auld  Licht  citadel)  the  snoring 
of  an  elderly  worshipper  stirred  Jock  into  one  of  his 
humorous  moods.  Making  for  the  sleeper,  he  seized 
his  spectacles,  transferred  them  to  his  own  nose,  and 
glared  into  the  unconscious  man's  face,  until  some 
intuition  awoke  him,  when  he  was  nearly  distracted 
at  the  great  eyes  adorned  with  "  specs  "  peering  down 
his  throat  ! 

Lodging  at  Kershope  one  night,  father  and  son  were 

installed  at  the  fireside.   At  supper  the  elder  Jock  said 

one  of  his  long  graces.  But  either  he  was  unduly  prosy 

or  young  Jock  was  uncommonly  hungry,  and  while 

the  old  man  was  roaming  through  the  Psalms  in  a  peni- 

38 


"DAVIE  GELLATLEY" 

tential  mood,  Jock  advised  him  to  be  done,  every  now 
and  again  lifting  the  pot-lid  and  sniffing  the  savoury 
morsel  within. 

Jock  possessed  extraordinary  powers  of  mimicry 
His  imitations  of  the  styles  of  preaching  which  he 
heard  in  his  rounds  were  perfectly  marvellous.  "  I 
recollect  an  amusing  incident,"  says  the  late  Alex- 
ander A.  Hogg  of  Hawick ;  "  it  occurred  when  the 
students  were  attending  Professor  Lawson's  Hall  in 
Selkirk.  One  day  some  half-dozen  or  more  of  them 
forgathered  with  Jock.  Proffering  a  few  pence,  they 
readily  got  him  to  give  nearly  his  whole  budget  of 
clerical  imitations — Nicol  of  Traquair ;  Pate  of  In- 
nerleithen ;  Campbell  of  Lilliesleaf ;  Jolly  of  Bow- 
den  ;  Russell  of  Yarrow,  and  others.  '  Now,'  said 
one  of  them,  '  before  you  go  away  we  must  hear 
Leckie  of  Peebles.'  A  son  of  Leckie's  was  present, 
who  was  evidently  uneasy  and  not  at  all  pleased  with 
the  proposal.  But  before  he  could  interfere  Jock 
sang  out  in  solemn  tones,  '  Oh  ye  wicked  people  of 
Peebles  !  if  it  were  not  for  Sir  John  Hay  of  Hayston, 
you  would  all  go  to  the  devil  together.'  Young 
Leckie's  face  flushed  crimson,  and  he  made  good  his 
escape  amid  the  merry  laughter  of  the  light-hearted 
youths." 

Like  Davie  Gellatley,  Jock  was  dotingly  fond  of 
music.  He  had  a  repertoire  of  verses  and  tunes  of 
his  own  composition,  and  one  of  his  ballads  actually 
survives  in  print.  It  is  nothing  more  than  a  jingle  of 
names  of  persons  and  places  familiar  to  him  in  his 
39 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS  :   WAVERLEY 

rounds.    Jock  seldom  sang  the  song  in  the  same  way, 
being,  it  is  said,  partial  to  omissions  and  additions — 

"  There's  daft  Jock  Gray*  o'  Gilmanscleugh, 
And  Davie  o'  the  Inch  ; 
And  when  ye  come  to  Singley, 
They'll  help  ye  in  a  pinch. 

And  the  laddie  he's  but  young, 

And  the  laddie  he's  but  young  : 
And  Robbie  Scott  ca's  up  the  rear, 
And  Caleb  beats  the  drum.f 
There  are  the  Taits  o'  Caberston, 

The  Taits  o'  Holylee  ; 
The  ladies  o'  the  Juniper  Bank, J 
They  carry  a*  the  gree. 

And  the  laddie  he's  but  young,  etc. 

There's  Lockie  o'  the  Skirty  Knowes, 

There's  Nicol  o'  Dykeneuk, 
And  Bryson  o'  the  Priestrig, 

And  Hall  into  the  Heap. 

And  the  laddie  he's  but  young,  etc. 

The  three  Scotts  o'  Commonside, 

The  Tamsons  o'  the  Mill, 
There's  Ogilvy  o'  Branxholm, 

And  Scoon  o'  Todgiehill. 

And  the  laddie  he's  but  young,  etc. 
The  braw  lads  o'  Fawdonside, 

The  lasses  o'  the  Peel  ; 
And  when  ye  gang  to  Fairnielee 

Ye'll  ca'  at  Ashestiel. 

And  the  laddie  he's  but  young,  etc. 

There  is  Lord  Napier  o'  the  Lodge, 

And  Gawin  in  the  Hall, 
And  Mr.  Charters  o'  Wilton  Manse, 

Preaches  lectures  to  us  all. 

And  the  laddie  he's  but  young,  etc. 

*  The  name  should  be  Scott.     His  brother  was  farmer  of  Gil- 
manscleugh.    Jock  Gray  never  lived  there. 

f  Caleb  Rutherford,  town-drummer  of  Hawick.     See  Robert 
Murray's  Hawick  Characters. 

X  Misses  Thorburn.    Their  brother  is  referred  to  in  "  Dandie 
Dinmont,"  Chapter  III. 

40 


"DAVIE  GELLATLEY" 

There  are  three  wives  in  Hassendean, 

And  ane  in  Braidie-Yairds, 
And  they're  away  to  Gittenscleuch, 

And  left  their  wheel  and  cairds.* 

And  the  laddie  he's  but  young,  etc. 

There's  Bailie  Nixon,  merchant, 

The  Miss  Moncrieffs  and  a'  ; 
And  if  ye  gang  some  further  east 
Ye'll  come  to  Willie  Ha'. 

And  the  laddie  he's  but  young, 

And  the  laddie  he's  but  young  ; 
And  Robbie  Scott  ca's  up  the  rear, 
And  Caleb  beats  the  drum." 

With  all  his  oddities  and  harmless  "knavery," 
Jock  was  a  kindly-affectioned  creature  ;  and  it  is  his 
humaner  traits — his  simplicity  and  loyalty — which 
reappear  in  those  of  the  fool  Davie  Gellatley. 

Gellatley's  commission  from  Rose  Bradwardine  to 
Glennaquoich,  his  behaviour  among  the  ruins  of 
Tully-Veolan,  and  rapturous  glee  over  his  grand  new 
bedizenment  at  the  end,  are  among  the  most  finely- 
imagined  and  touching  passages  in  the  novel.  "  He 
danced  up  with  his  usual  ungainly  frolics,  first  to  the 
Baron,  and  then  to  Rose,  passing  his  hands  over  his 
clothes,  crying,  '  Bra'  bra'  Davie,'  and  scarce  able  to 
sing  a  bar  to  the  end  of  his  thousand-and-one  songsfor 
the  breathless  extravagance  of  his  joy."  Daft  Jock 
Gray  never  rose  to  such  heights.  He  was  only  a  poor 
wandering  simpleton  all  his  life,  and  having  crossed 
the  orbit  of  Scott  in  the  days  when  the  novelist  was 
in  the  making,  literature  is  richer  because  of  him,  poor 
simpleton  though  he  was. 

*  Hand-cards  for  carding  wool. 


CHAPTER  THREE 

GUY  MANNERING 
"DANDIE   DINMONT" 


"  True  worth  and  reverence  in  his  mien, 
His  manners  simple  as  the  clay." 

Professor  Veitch. 


CHAPTER  THREE  GUY 

MANNERING  "DANDIE  DINMONT" 

IN  THE  WAVERLEY  ORDER  OF  MERIT  GUY 

Mannering  is  easily  in  the  first  class.  As  a  mere  story 
it  is  possibly  the  best  of  the  series.  No  novel  of 
Scott's  shows  greater  constructive  skill,  albeit  its 
author's  greatest  feat  in  rapid  writing.  Guy  Man- 
nering differs  from  its  predecessors  in  being  purely 
a  tale  of  private  life,  unconnected  with  any  histori- 
cal data,  religious  or  political.  Its  chief  interest 
centres  in  a  number  of  fictitious  characters  and  inci- 
dents, some  of  which  have  a  slight  foundation  in  fact. 
According  to  Lockhart,  Scott  took  as  a  basis  for  the 
story,  Train's  account  of  an  astrologer  storm-stayed 
among  the  Galloway  wilds  and  obliged  to  accept  the 
hospitality  of  a  friendly  farmhouse  for  the  night .  The 
gudewife,  about  to  become  a  mother,  was  in  her  tra- 
vail. All  that  the  astrologer  foretold  of  the  infant, 
his  adventures  abroad,  and  return  home  to  recover  a 
lost  inheritance,  were  said  to  have  actually  come  to 
pass.  Scott  had  listened  to  a  similar  story  from  the 
lips  of  John  MacKinlay,  his  father's  Highland  servant. 
It  is  this  which  he  prints  in  the  Preface  to  the  mag- 
num opus ;  but  the  Durham  Garland,  which  Scott 
heard  in  his  boyhood,  contains  more  of  the  main  fable 
of  Guy  Mannering  than  either  Train's  or  MacKinlay's 
narratives. 

Additional  to  these,  the  celebrated  Annesley  trial,  in 
which  claim  was  made  to  the  title  and  estates  of  the 
earldom  of  Anglesey,  constituted,  perhaps,  the  near- 
45 


THE   SCOTT    ORIGINALS  GUY 

est  approach  to  an  original  foundation  for  the  novel. 
Even  the  names  of  the  witnesses  examined  have  been 
appropriated  with  very  slight  modifications.  Henry 
Brown,  for  instance,  becomes  Henry  Bertram,  alias 
Vanbeest  Brown.  An  Irish  priest,  Abel,  recalls  the  in- 
imitable Abel  Sampson.  Macmullan  and  Macmorlan 
are  nearly  related  ;  and  the  names  Jans  and  Kennedy 
and  Barnes  appear  unaltered.  A  remarkable  expres- 
sion applied  to  Annesley,  that  "  he  is  the  right  heir  if 
right  might  take  place,"  has  probably  served  as  a 
hint  for  the  motto  of  the  Bertram  family,  "  Our  right 
makes  our  might . ' '  Lockhart  does  not  doubt  that  Scott 
had  read  the  Annesley  record,  as  well  as  Smollett's 
edition  of  the  story  in  Peregrine  Pickle.  He  cannot, 
however,  explain  the  silence  of  the  Introduction. 

There  is  another  plausible  source  for  the  Guy  Man- 
nering  plot.  This  is  found  in  the  great  Dormont  suit 
which  was  actually  in  the  Court  of  Session  immedi- 
ately prior  to  the  commencement  of  the  novel.  Scott 
was  unusually  interested  in  the  affair,  and  it  was  the 
subject  of  a  long  letter  to  Lady  Abercorn  on  21st 
May  1813.  Briefly,  the  facts  are  these:  Carruthers 
of  Dormont  married  a  lady  whose  fidelity  he  had 
afterwards  reason  to  suspect.  He  sought  divorce, 
but  ere  the  proceedings  could  be  finished,  she  bore  a 
daughter  of  whom  Carruthers  was  legally  the  father. 
He  declined  to  see  the  child,  and  sent  her  to  be 
brought  up  in  a  remote  part  of  the  Cheviots,  and  in 
complete  ignorance  as  to  her  origin.     Somehow  she 

learnt  the  secret  of  her  story.    Reaching  womanhood, 

46 


MANNERING         "DANDIE  DINMONT" 

she  married  Henry  Rutledge,  the  son  of  a  neighbour- 
ing impecunious  laird,  and  getting  into  difficulties, 
had  recourse  to  old  Dormont,  to  whom  she  com- 
pounded her  rights  for  the  sum  of  £450  (not  £1200 
as  Scott  says).  By  and  by,  a  son  and  daughter 
were  born.  Within  a  few  years  both  parents  died  in 
poverty.  The  boy  was  sent  by  a  friend  to  the  East 
Indies.  A  bundle  of  papers  handed  to  him  at  parting 
he  left  unopened  at  a  lawyer's.  In  India  the  youth 
prospered  exceedingly.  In  course  of  time  he  revisited 
his  native  country.  He  came  to  Cumberland  where  he 
had  been  born,  crossed  the  Border  into  Dumfriesshire, 
and  took  a  shooting-lodge  within  a  short  distance  of 
Dormont,  his  ancestral  home.  At  the  village  inn  of 
Dalton  where  he  lodged,  the  landlady,  struck  by  his 
name,  gossiped  with  him  about  his  family  history. 
He  knew  nothing  of  the  facts  disclosed  by  the  worthy 
dame,  but  impressed  with  her  tale,  sent  for  and  ex- 
amined his  neglected  packet  of  papers.  He  there- 
upon sought  legal  opinion  and  was  advised  by  Lord 
President  Blair,  who  was  then  Solicitor-General,  that 
he  had  a  claim  worth  presenting  to  the  Court.  The 
decision  was  favourable,  and  the  true  heir,  returning 
from  India  a  second  time,  celebrated  his  victory  by 
giving  a  dinner  party  to  his  friends  and  counsel,  and 
"  I  am  sorry  to  add,"  says  Scott,  "  was  found  dead 
in  bed  the  next  morning,  having  broken  a  blood 
vessel  during  the  night."  * 

*  See  also  in  Miss  Goldie's  Family  Recollections  the  story  of  the 
missing  heir  of  Orcharton,  a  reputed  groundwork  of  the  novel. 
47 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS  GUY 

On  the  face  of  it,  the  Dormont  case  is  as  likely  as 
not  to  be  the  germ  out  of  which  grew  Sir  Walter's  ro- 
mance of  the  missing  heir — that  favourite  theme  of 
balladist  and  fiction-monger  since  ever  Homer  sang 
his  Odyssey,  and  probably  long  before  that.  The  ap- 
peal on  behalf  of  the  Rutledges  was  thrashed  out  in 
the  Court  of  Session  in  1811-1812,  and  was  still  pend- 
ing in  1813.  Scott  was  cognizant  of  the  whole  case 
before  it  went  to  the  House  of  Lords,  hence,  no  doubt, 
the  rapidity  with  which  the  story  sped  from  his  pen. 
Of  great  novels  written  at  white  heat,  Guy  Mannering 
is  the  most  conspicuous  example.  With  the  exception 
of  Count  Robert  and  Castle  Dangerous,  the  Waverleys 
were  all  composed  without  effort, the  chapters  flowing 
from  Scott's  quill  as  easily  as  the  Tweed  ran  past  the 
windows  of  Abbotsford.  Here  is  a  novel  of  fifty-eight 
chapters  and  comprising  (say)  170,000  words,  begun 
and  completed  "within  six  weeks  at  a  Christmas." 
Scott  had  only  heard  the  tale  of  the  astrologer  in  Nov- 
ember, and  by  the  beginning  of  February  Guy  Man- 
nering had  gone  through  the  mill,  and  the  public  were 
buying  it  by  the  thousand — two  thousand  copies  at 
a  guinea  each  being  sold  on  the  day  of  publication. 

The  strength  of  the  story  is  in  its  wealth  of  re- 
markable characters  beyond  the  author's  own  group 
of  heroes  and  heroines.  The  latter  are  four  in  num- 
ber, none  of  them  very  interesting  or  attractive. 
Neither  Harry  Bertram,  on  whose  disappearance  the 
mystery  turns,  nor  Charles  Hazlewood,  Lucy's  lover, 

has  a  tithe  of  the  interest  that  belongs  to  Dominie 

48 


MANNERING         "DANDIE  DINMONT 


» 


Sampson  or  to  Dandie  Dinmont.  Julia  Mannering 
(painted  from  Charlotte  Carpenter  at  the  time  of  the 
Gilsland  courtship),  a  veritable  Medea  in  appearance 
with  piercing  dark  eyes  and  jet-black  hair,  is  a  very 
fascinating  damsel.  So  also  is  Lucy  Bertram,  what 
little  we  see  of  her  for  her  habitual  demureness,  but 
neither  of  them  cuts  a  striking  figure.  It  is  the  re- 
doubted Meg  Merrilies  with  her  haunting  songs  and 
incantations,  her  dishevelled  locks,  her  sibylline  com- 
munications, who  is  the  real  heroine  of  the  story,  and 
whose  unbroken  courage  and  invincible  fidelity  win 
our  unswerving  regard.  It  was  characteristic  of  Scott 
to  borrow  so  many  of  his  best  figures  from  life's 
humbler  walks,  from  classes  despised  and  overridden. 
He  declares,  indeed,  that  he  was  more  at  home 
among  mercenaries,  and  moss-troopers,  and  outlaws, 
and  poachers,  and  gypsies,  and  beggars,  than  in  the 
company  of  all  the  fine  ladies  and  gentlemen  under  a 
cloud  whom  he  adopts  as  heroes  and  heroines.  It 
was  Scott's  catholic  gift  of  sympathy  which  enabled 
him  to  break  down  the  barrier  of  class  distinctions, 
and  enrich  his  novels  with  those  characters  of  humble 
life  which  are  on  the  whole  the  finest  he  has  drawn. 
Scott  is  for  ever  master  of  the  tragedy  and  pathos  of 
humble  life — a  life  which,  at  Lasswade,  and  Ashestiel, 
and  Abbotsford,  it  may  be  said  he  had  under  his 
daily  inspection. 

Nowadays  the  Scots  peasant  is  a  familiar  figure 
in  literature,  but  none  of  his  modern  delineators  can 
be  mentioned  in  the  same  breath  as  Scott,  who  paints 
49  d 


THE   SCOTT    ORIGINALS  GUY 

him  absolutely  as  he  is,  with  no  false  sentiment  or  ex- 
travagance. The  strength  of  Scott  lies,  there  can  be 
little  doubt,  in  his  pictures  of  Scottish  life  and  char- 
acter. He  knew  his  countrymen  thoroughly,  and  the 
nature  of  the  life  they  lived,  and  he  put  his  know- 
ledge into  language  of  remarkable  felicity.  In  the 
characterisation  both  of  nature  and  of  human  nature 
Jeffrey  said  that  Scott  was  successful  of  all  writers 
subsequent  to  Milton. 

Of  Originals  apart  from  those  to  be  noted,  Tod 
Gabbie  (Gabriel  Faa)  the  gypsy  fox-hunter  was 
studied  from  Tod  Willie,  the  huntsman  of  the  hills 
above  Loch  Skene.  The  demoniacal  Dirk  Hatteraick 
was  the  Dutch  smuggler,  Yawkins.  Tib  Mumps  was 
Margaret  Carrick  or  Teasdale,  of  Gilsland,  whose 
grave  is  still  seen  in  Denton  Churchyard  ;  *  and 
Colonel  Mannering,  as  Hogg  affirmed,  was  just 
Walter  Scott  painted  by  himself.  Glossin,  the  villain 
of  the  piece,  is  no  doubt  a  copy  of  Gifford,  the  de- 
signing lawyer  in  the  Annesley  Case  ;  and  Godfrey 
Bertram,  who,  like  Gratiano,  speaks  an  infinite  deal 
of  nothing,  is  thought  to  be  drawn  from  the  last  God- 
frey M'Culloch  of  Cardoness.j 

*  "  Here  lieth  the  Body  of  Margaret 
Teasdale  of  Mumps  Hall  who  died 
May  the  5,  1777,  aged  98  years. 
What  I  was  once  some  may  relate, 
What  I  am  now  is  each  one's  fate, 
What  I  shall  be  none  can  explain 
Till  he  that  called  call  again." 
f  On  the  Gatehouse  and  Creetown  road  which  winds  along  the 
shores  of  Fleet  and  Wigtown  Bays — "  the  finest  shore  road  in 

So 


DIRK   HATTERAICK'S   PISTOL 


MANNERING         "DANDIE  DINMONT" 

II 

Scott  had  high  qualifications  for  being  the  author  of 
Guy  Mannering.  As  has  just  been  said,  the  hearts  and 
ways  of  the  peasantry  were  well  known  to  him.  He 
was  at  home  in  the  whole  gamut  of  the  agricultural 
world,  so  that  when  the  inspiration  drew  him  thither, 
there  was  a  spontaneity,  a  fresh  and  radiant  natural- 
ness about  his  work  which  a  town-bred  man  could 
not  have  realised.  It  is  this  feature  which  makes 
Guy  Mannering  so  successful — its  glow  and  spirit, 
the  sense  of  out-of-doors-ness  which  blows  like  a  pure 
and  fragrant  breeze  through  every  chapter. 

The  manners  described  in  the  novel  had  either  al- 
together disappeared  or  were  greatly  modified  in 
Scott's  day.  He  was  illuminating  a  period  at  least 
fifty  years  earlier.  Speaking  of  the  farming  class,  he 
says  that  they  are  "  a  much  more  refined  race  than 
their  fathers.    Without  losing  the  rural  simplicity  of 

Britain ' ' — are  the  reputed  scenes  in  Guy  Mannering,  though  Scott, 
not  committing  himself,  merely  smiled  when  he  heard  the  sugges- 
tion. Gatehouse-of-Fleet,  at  one  end,  is  supposed  to  be  the 
"  Kippletringan  "  of  the  novel,  and  Creetown,  at  the  other, 
"  Portanferry."  Either  Cardoness  or  Barholm  is  "  Ellangowan 
Auld  Place  "  (though  the  building  itself  is  evidently  modelled 
from  Caerlaverock) .  Cassencary  is  "  Woodbourne,"  and  the 
"  Kaim  of  Derncleugh  "  is  located  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Skyreburn.  Half-way  between  the  two  extremities  mentioned 
and  by  the  rocky  shore  at  Ravenshall,  is  "  Dirk  Hatteraick's 
Cave,"  accessible  only  when  the  tide  is  out.  The  "  Gordon  Arms 
at  Kippletringan,"  where  Mannering  puts  up  after  his  return  from 
the  East,  is  the  Murray  Arms  of  to-day.  The  Masons'  Lodge, 
where  the  sale  of  Ellangowan  is  detailed  in  chap.  xiv.  of  the 
novel,  adjoins  the  hotel.  This  is  all  a  piece  of  guesswork,  but  the 
resemblances  arc  striking. 

Si 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS  GUY 

manners  they  now  cultivate  arts  unknown  to  the  for- 
mer generation,  not  only  in  the  progressive  improve- 
ment of  their  possessions,  but  in  all  the  comforts  of 
life.  Their  houses  are  more  commodious,  their  habits 
of  life  regulated  so  as  better  to  keep  pace  with  those 
of  the  civilised  world ;  and  the  best  of  luxuries,  the 
luxury  of  knowledge,  has  gained  much  ground  among 
their  hills  during  the  last  thirty  years.  Deep  drinking, 
formerly  their  greatest  failing,  is  fast  losing  ground  ; 
and  while  the  frankness  of  their  extensive  hospitality 
continues  the  same,  it  is,  generally  speaking,  refined 
in  its  character,  and  restrained  in  its  excesses." 

At  the  distance  of  a  century  after  Scott's  time,  the 
most  sweeping  change  is  in  the  matter  of  the  farms 
themselves.  The  extraordinary  diminution  in  the 
number  of  independent  holdings  is  a  momentous  and 
vexing  feature  in  modern  Scottish  life.  The  number 
is  stated  to  be  only  one-half  of  what  it  was  in  the  Guy 
Mannering  period,  or  even  in  Scott's  day.  Two,  and 
three,  and  more  smiling  Charlieshopes  have  been 
merged  into  a  single  tenancy  with  an  accompanying 
depopulation — that  to-day's  curse  of  Scotland.  In  a 
letter  dated  1771,  one  clergyman  (Muschet  of  Tweeds- 
muir)  tells  how  seven  farms  in  his  parish  were  annex- 
ed by  a  single  individual,  and  no  fewer  than  fourteen 
families  turned  adrift  as  no  longer  necessary  under 
the  new  conditions.  Forty  years  ago,  the  number  of 
people  engaged  in  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  amounted 
to  two  millions,  now  there  are  scarcely  three-quarters 

of  a  million.    A  system  so  deplorable  cannot  be  too 

52 


MANNERING         "DANDIE  DINMONT" 

much  deprecated.  On  all  hands  the  hope  is  expressed 
for  a  speedy  reversal  of  such  an  unhappy  state  of  af- 
fairs. The  salvation  of  many  a  rural  parish  will  only 
be  found  in  a  solution  of  its  land  problem.  With  the 
return  of  the  land  to  its  original  and  proper  place 
in  the  fortunes  of  the  people  one  of  the  most  vital 
triumphs  in  Scottish  history  will  be  vindicated.  Spite 
of  that  haunting  "  yerd-hunger  "  which  in  the  end 
ruined  Scott,  he  was  not  untouched  by  the  pathos  of 
the  empty  glens  of  Tweed  and  Yarrow.  It  required  no 
prophet's  vision  to  convince  him  of  what  was  coming. 
He  knew  that  Goldsmith's  lines  rang  sadly  true  : 

"  But  a  bold  peasantry,  their  country's  pride, 
When  once  destroyed,  can  never  be  supplied." 

Guy  Mannering  contained  Scott's  own  favourite 
among  his  men  characters,  the  honest  sheep-farmer, 
Dandie  Dinmont,  the  best  rustic  portrait,  as  the 
Edinburgh  Review  said,  "  that  has  ever  yet  been  ex- 
hibited to  the  public, — the  most  honourable  to  rus- 
tics, and  the  most  creditable  to  the  heart  as  well  as 
the  genius  of  the  author,  the  truest  to  nature,  the 
most  complete  in  all  its  lineaments." 

We  get  our  first  glimpse  of  Dandie  in  the  little 
Cumberland  alehouse  which  afforded  the  last  chance 
of  refreshment  to  the  traveller  northbound  by  the 
wild  and  thief-haunted  Waste  of  Bewcastle.  At  the 
inn  we  also  meet  Meg  Merrilies,  and  Vanbeest  Brown, 
the  metamorphosed  Harry  Bertram.  As  the  farmer 
rose  to  go,  Meg  warned  him  of  danger  ahead  from 
Border  bandits.  Dandie  scouted  the  suggestion,  to 
53 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS  GUY 

discover,  to  his  cost,  the  singular  candour  of  the 
old  hag.  He  was  waylaid,  and  would  have  fared 
badly,  but  for  the  timely  appearance  of  Bertram  (with 
Wasp),  who  was  making  the  journey  on  foot  into 
Dumfriesshire.  Having  mastered  their  assailants, 
the  pair  mounted  on  Dumple  ("  Dumple  could  carry 
six  folk  if  his  back  were  long  enough  "),  made  off  like 
whitrets  [weasels],  and  without  further  mischance 
gained  the  boundary  line,  and  were  soon  at  Dandie's 
home  among  the  hills.  "  Descending  by  a  path  to- 
wards a  well-known  ford,  Dumple  crossed  the  small 
river,  and  then,  quickening  his  pace,  trotted  about  a 
mile  briskly  up  its  banks,  and  approached  two  or 
three  low  thatched  houses,  placed  with  their  angles  to 
each  other,  with  a  great  contempt  of  regularity.  This 
was  the  farm-steading  of  Charlieshope,  or,  in  the 
language  of  the  country,  '  the  town.'  A  most  furious 
barking  was  set  up  at  their  approach  by  the  whole 
three  generations  of  Mustard  and  Pepper,  and  a 
number  of  allies,  names  unknown.  The  farmer  made 
his  well-known  voice  lustily  heard  to  restore  order  ; 
the  door  opened,  and  a  half-dressed  ewe-milker,  who 
had  done  that  good  office,  shut  it  in  their  faces,  in 
order  that  she  might  run  '  ben  the  house  '  to  cry 
'  Mistress,  mistress,  it's  the  master,  and  another  man 
wi'  him.'  Dumple,  turned  loose,  walked  to  his  own 
stable-door,  and  there  pawed  and  whinnied  for  ad- 
mission, in  strains  which  were  answered  by  his  ac- 
quaintances from  the  interior.     Amid  this  bustle 

Brown  was  fain  to  secure  Wasp  from  the  other  dogs, 

54 


MANNERING         "DANDIE  DINMONT" 

who,  with  ardour  corresponding  more  to  their  own 
names  than  to  the  hospitable  temper  of  their  owner, 
were  much  disposed  to  use  the  intruder  roughly.  In 
about  a  minute  a  stout  labourer  was  patting  Dumple, 
and  introducing  him  into  the  stable,  while  Mrs.  Din- 
mont,  a  well-favoured  buxom  dame,  welcomed  her 
husband  with  unfeigned  rapture.  '  Eh,  sirs  !  gude- 
man,  ye  hae  been  a  weary  while  away  ! '  " 

The  chapters  which  follow  are  founded  on  Scott's 
Liddesdale  experiences  between  the  years  1792  and 
1799.  At  the  Michaelmas  Circuit  at  Jedburgh  in  the 
first -mentioned  year,  Scott,  a  newly-fledged  advo- 
cate, made  the  acquaintance  of  Robert  Shortreed 
(afterwards  Sheriff-Substitute  of  the  county),  son  of 
Thomas  Shortreed,  an  extensive  farmer  in  Jed  Forest. 
He  was  Scott's  senior  by  nine  years,  and  had  spent  the 
whole  of  his  life  by  Jed  Water.  Shortreed  was  an 
authority  on  ballads.  It  was  this  circumstance  that 
drew  the  twain  together.  For  ever  since  Scott  as  a  boy 
came  under  the  spell  of  the  Reliques,  the  study  of  bal- 
lads engrossed  much  of  his  attention,  and  was  become 
a  sort  of  passion  with  him.  He  longed  to  do  for  the 
Border  what  Bishop  Percy  had  done  for  his  own  land. 
The  material,  therefore,  must  be  gathered  before  it 
was  too  late,  ere  the  memory  of  the  minstrels  and  their 
stock-in-trade  had  vanished.  Scott  was  aware  that  in 
Liddesdale  some  of  the  old  "riding  ballads"  were 
still  extant.  He  had  also  the  wish  to  see  the  Castle  of 
Hermitage  and  to  explore  a  district  which,  though 
it  is  part  of  Roxburghshire,  he  was  comparatively 
55 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS  GUY 

ignorant  of.  Robert  Shortreed,  however,  knew  every 
foot  of  it.  He  had  many  friends  there,  and  was  the 
best  guide  Scott  could  have  had.  The  pair  set  out 
from  Abbotrule,  the  residence  of  Charles  Ker,  one  of 
Scott's  intimates.  They  would  probably  go  up  the 
Rule  to  Bonchester  Bridge,  strike  off  towards  the 
Slitrig,  climb  Limekiln  Edge,  and  make  the  descent 
by  the  path  parallel  with  Whitterhope  Burn,  on  the 
east  of  which  lies  the  Nine-Stane  Rig  of  Leyden's 
Lord  Soulis,  and  a  little  further  over, 

"  The  brown  ruins  scarred  with  age 
That  frown  o'er  haunted  Hermitage." 

Or  they  might  proceed  by  Southdean  and  Dykeraw 
to  Jed  Head  and  the  Raven  Burn,  and  on  to  the  ridge 
where  they  would  join  the  almost  obliterated  Wheel- 
Causeway  redolent  of  Edward  the  First's  victorious 
marchings.  Thence,  following  the  course  of  the 
Peel  Burn,  the  valley  of  the  Liddel  would  be  reached. 
There  is  another  road  they  may  have  taken — by 
Hyndlee  and  over  the  steep,  tortuous  Note  o'  the  Gate 
(spelled  Knot  o'  the  Gate  in  the  novel)  and  Singden, 
then  down  the  Dawston  Burn  (reminiscent  of  Jock  o' 
Dawston  Cleugh)  to  Saughtree  and  Liddelside. 

That  Liddesdale  did  not  produce  the  fruits  antici- 
pated by  the  travellers  seems  tolerably  certain  from 
some  of  Scott's  letters  and  from  the  Minstrelsy  itself. 
They  unearthed  a  few  treasures,  but  what  they  lacked 
in  the  shape  of  ballad  discovery  had  other  agree- 
able compensations.  They  formed  heaps  of  friend- 
ships. They  encountered  an  endless  round  of  hospital- 

56 


MANNERING         "  DAND1E  DINMONT" 

ities,  and,  not  least,  they  laid  in  magnificent  stores  of 
health  and  strength.  It  is  doubtful  if  Scott  ever  again 
experienced  days  more  peacefully  delightful.  Re- 
garding these  rambles  ('•  raids  "  was  the  word  Scott 
favoured)  the  memoranda  furnished  to  Lockhart  by 
Scott's  lively  companion  is  the  best  of  comment- 
aries. That  need  not  be  repeated  here,  save  to  re- 
call Shortreed's  oft-quoted  statement  that  Scott  was 
"  makin'  himsel'  a'  the  time ;  but  he  didna  ken,  may- 
be, what  he  was  about  till  years  had  passed."  Osten- 
sibly, Walter  Scott's  object  in  raiding  Liddesdale  was 
to  collect  matter  for  the  Minstrelsy,  which  even  then 
was  simmering  in  his  brain.  Or  did  the  Liddesdale 
peregrinations  suggest  a  bolder  and  a  higher  flight  ? 
The  gains  of  Liddesdale,  at  all  events,  were  turned  to 
excellent  account  in  after  years.  Not  only  Guy  Man- 
nering,  but  quite  two-thirds  of  Scott's  romances  were 
the  fruit  of  that  raiding  epoch  which  did  so  much  to 
develop  and  make  possible  the  Scott  who,  asTaine  has 
well  said,  gave  Scotland  a  citizenship  in  literature. 

According  to  Shortreed,  Willie  Elliot  of  Millburn- 
holm  (now  Millburn)  was  the  great  Original  of  Dandie 
Dinmont.  Millburnholm,  the  Charlieshope  of  the 
novel,  was  situated  a  short  distance  north  of  the 
bridge  which  spans  the  Hermitage  Burn  on  the  west 
side  of  the  road  leading  to  Hawick.  The  farmhouse  is 
no  longer  in  existence,  its  site  being  occupied  by  a 
couple  of  workmen's  cottages,  and  the  farm  itself  has 
been  merged  in  the  one  adj  oining.  The  place  was  one 
of  the  first  visited  by  Scott,  and  intimacy  with  Willie 
57 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS  GUY 

Elliot  was  maintained  in  every  summer  that  followed. 
Shortreed's  account  of  the  first  interview  is  exceed- 
ingly happy.  Scott,  as  was  said,  had  just  turned  ad- 
vocate, and  "advocates  were  not  so  plentiful,  at  least 
about  Liddesdale."  Of  course  there  was  the  usual 
bustle,  not  to  say  alarm,  when  the  honest  farmer  was 
informed  of  the  quality  of  one  of  his  guests.  When 
Scott  dismounted,  Elliot  received  him  with  great  cere- 
mony and  insisted  upon  leading  his  horse  to  the  stable. 
Shortreed  accompanied  Willie,  however,  and  the  lat- 
ter, after  taking  a  deliberate  peep  at  Scott  out  by  the 
edge  of  the  door-cheek,  whispered  :  "  Weel,  Robin,  I 
say,  deil  hae  me  if  Fse  be  a  bit  feared  for  him  now ; 
he's  just  a  chield  like  ourselves,  I  think."  Half  a 
dozen  dogs  of  all  degrees  had  already  gathered  round 
the  advocate,  and  his  way  of  returning  their  compli- 
ments set  Elliot  at  once  at  his  ease. 

If  Elliot  of  Millburnholm  is  to  be  regarded  as 
Dandie's  prototype,  he  was  at  that  time  a  man  still 
on  the  sunny  side  of  forty,  having  been  born  in  1755. 
He  was  the  son  of  the  former  tenant,  Robert  Elliot, 
and  his  mother  was  a  Scott  of  Greenwood.  He 
married  Elizabeth  Laidlaw,  of  Falnash,  and  lived  to 
1827.*  A  son  and  daughter,  Robert  and  Jean,  sur- 
vived him.  "  When  a  lad  I  frequently  saw  Willie 
Elliot  and  his  wife,"  writes  a  living  nonogenarian. 
"  Willie  was  the  good  and  generous  soul  that  Dandie 

*  Willie  Elliot's  grave  may  be  seen  in  the  lonely  kirkyard  of 
Unthank  in  the  Ewes  valley.  A  great  "  throuch  "  covers  his  re- 
mains, and  the  inscriptions  are  becoming  illegible. 

58 


MANNERING        "  DANDIE  DINMONT" 

was,  and  Mrs.  Elliot  had  not  a  few  of  Ailie's  charac- 
teristics.   She  was  a  pleasant  woman." 

Lockhart  does  not  confirm  Shortreed's  claim.  All 
he  says  is,  "  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  he  sat  for 
some  parts  of  the  portrait."  The  race  of  Dandies 
and  Ailies  was  then  powerful  in  the  land,  and  almost 
any  of  them  might  have  stood  for  the  picture  of  the 
bluff,  but  honest -hearted,  and  faithful  farmer  and  his 
good-natured  spouse.  In  a  note  to  the  novel,  Scott 
indeed  declares  that  the  character  of  Dinmont  was 
drawn  from  no  particular  person,  and  he  asserts  that 
a  dozen  at  least  of  stout  Liddesdale  yeomen  with 
whom  he  was  acquainted,  and  whose  hospitality  he 
shared  in  his  rambles,  might  well  lay  claim  to  the 
honour. 

In  his  lifetime,  it  does  not  appear  to  have  been  sug- 
gested that  Elliot  was  Dandie's  Original.  It  was  other- 
wise with  James  Davidson  of  Hyndlee,  who  carried 
the  name  of  Dandie  with  him  to  the  grave.  Yet 
Scott  and  Davidson  never  met  until  more  than  a  year 
after  the  novel  had  established  the  man's  celebrity 
all  over  the  Border.  "  I  have  been  at  the  Spring 
Circuit  "  [at  Jedburgh],  wrote  Scott  to  Terry,  "  and 
there  I  was  introduced  to  a  man  whom  I  never  saw 
in  my  life  before — the  genuine  Dandie  Dinmont .  Dan- 
die  is  himself  modest,  and  says,  '  he  believes  it's  only 
the  dougs  that  is  in  the  buik,  and  no  himsel'.'  In 
truth,  I  knew  nothing  of  the  man  except  his  odd 
humour  of  having  only  two  names  for  twenty  dogs." 

Shortreed — one  of  Davidson's  intimates — would  no 

59 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS  GUY 

doubt  tell  Scott  about  the  Hyndlee  terriers.     That 
Scott  ever  saw  them  in  their  own  native  haunts 
there  is  no  evidence  whatever  ;    nor  for  the  stupid 
story  which  represents  Davidson  as  exclaiming  ire- 
fully  :   "  I  wish  to  goodness  that  hirpling  auld  body 
would  only  come  this  way  again.     I  wad  thraw  his 
neck  for  him."    Contrariwise,  Davidson  was  flattered 
with  the  Dandie  compliment,  but  he  never  read  the 
"  buik."     "  Ailie  used  to  read  it  to  him,  and  it  set 
him  to  sleep."     As  for  Dandie's  fox-hunting  pro- 
clivities,  does  not   Scott   give  himself  away  with 
regard  to  Davidson  when  he  adds  in  the  note  afore- 
said that  "  his  passion  for  the  chase  in  all  its  forms, 
but  especially  for  fox-hunting,  as  followed  in  the 
fashion   described  in   chapter  xxv.,  in  conducting 
which   he  was   skilful   beyond   most  in  the  south 
highlands,  was  the  distinguishing  point  in  his  char- 
acter "  ?     Apparently  there  was  more  of  Dandie  in 
the  Hyndlee  farmer  than  Scott  meant  to  admit.    An 
English  lady  of  rank  and  fashion,  being  desirous  to 
possess  a  brace  of  the  celebrated  Mustard  and  Pepper 
terriers,  expressed  her  wishes  in  a  letter  which  was 
literally  addressed  to  Dandie  Dinmont,  under  which 
very  general  direction  it  reached  Davidson,  who  was 
justly  proud  of  the  application,  and  failed  not  to 
comply  with  a  request  which  did  him  and  his  favour- 
ite attendants  so  much  honour. 

James  Davidson's  death  took  place  at  Bongate, 
Jedburgh,  2nd  January  1820.  He  was  in  his  fifty- 
fifth  year.  He  lies  buried  under  the  shadow  of  Oxnam 

60 


MANNERING         "DANDIE  DINMONT 


35 


Kirk.  The  ruling  passion  for  sport  was  said  to  be 
strong  even  on  the  eve  of  dissolution.  Baillie  of 
Mellerstain's  fox-hounds  had  started  a  fox  opposite 
his  window  a  few  weeks  before,  and  as  soon  as  he 
heard  the  sound  of  the  dogs  his  eyes  glistened ;  he 
insisted  on  getting  out  of  bed,  and  with  much  diffi- 
culty got  to  the  window  and  there  enjoyed  the  fun,  as 
he  called  it.  "  When  I  came  down  to  ask  for  him," 
says  the  minister  who  attended  him,  "  '  he  had  seen 
Reynard,  but  had  not  seen  his  death.  If  it  had  been 
the  will  of  Providence,'  he  added,  '  I  would  have 
liked  to  have  been  after  him  ;  but  I  am  glad  that  I 
got  to  the  window,  and  am  thankful  for  what  I  saw, 
for  it  has  done  me  a  great  deal  of  good.'  Notwith- 
standing these  eccentricities,  I  sincerely  hope  and 
believe  he  has  gone  to  a  better  world,  and  better  com- 
pany and  enjoyments." 


IV 

Lockhart  brings  a  third  representative  of  the  in- 
comparable Dandie  into  the  arena.  "  I  have  the  best 
reason  to  believe,"  he  says,  "  that  the  kind  and  manly 
character  of  Dandie,  the  gentle  and  delicious  one  of 
his  wife,  and  some,  at  least,  of  the  most  picturesque 
peculiarities  of  the  menage  at  Charlieshope  were  filled 
up  fromScott's  observation  years  before  this  period  of 
a  family  with  one  of  whose  members  he  had,  through 
the  best  part  of  his  life,  a  close  and  affectionate  con- 
nection. To  those  who  were  sufficiently  intimate  with 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS  GUY 

him  I  have  perhaps  already  sufficiently  indicated  the 
early  home  of  his  dear  friend  William  Laidlaw  among 
the  braes  of  Yarrow." 

Scott  visited  Blackhouse  in  the  autumn  of  1802, 
when  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Laidlaw,  the  "dear 
Willie"  of  the  happy  Abbotsford  days.  Laidlaw's 
father,  James  Laidlaw,  and  his  mother,  Catherine 
Ballantyne,  were  an  altogether  superior  couple,  in- 
tellectually above  the  average  of  their  class,  and  pos- 
sessed of  characteristics  not  quite  compatible  with 
their  alleged  portraits  in  Guy  Mannering.  James 
Laidlaw  was  a  singularly  shy  man,  totally  different 
from  the  Dandie  of  romance.  Mrs.  Laidlaw  answered 
more  to  Ailie,  and  the  most  that  can  be  said  is  that 
Blackhouse  and  its  circle  merely  served  to  heighten 
the  delightful  traits  of  rustic  character  in  the  deline- 
ation of  Dandie  Dinmont's  home  at  Charlieshope. 
William  Laidlaw  himself,  be  it  noted,  is  not  the  proto- 
type Lockhart  has  suggested,  although  several  of 
Scott's  biographers  have  hastened  to  that  conclusion. 

Other  claims  advanced  by  Robert  Chambers  and 

others,  are  for  Mungo  Park's  brother,  Archie  of  Lew- 

inshope,  on  theYarrow,  and  John  Thorburn,of  Juniper 

Bank,  near  Walkerburn.     Park,  whose  wife  was  an 

Ailie,  was  a  man  of  unique  strength  and  stature.    He 

had  all  the  careless  humour  and  boisterous  hospitality 

of  the  Liddesdale  farmer.    On  the  appearance  of  the 

novel,  his  neighbours  put  him  down  as  the  Dandie 

Dinmont  of  real  life,  and  he  was  so  addressed  by  his 

familiar  associates.    Relinquishing  his  farm,  he  be- 

62 


MANNERING         "DANDIE  DINMONT" 

came  a  collector  of  Customs  at  Tobermory,  and  died 
there  in  1831,  aged  about  fifty. 

Thorburn  was  a  humorous,  good-natured  farmer, 
very  fond  of  hunting  and  fishing,  "  and  a  most  agree- 
able companion  over  a  bottle.  He  was  truly  an  un- 
sophisticated, worthy  man."  Many  amusing  anec- 
dotes are  told  of  him,  and  numerous  scenes  have  been 
witnessed  in  his  hospitable  abode  akin  to  that  de- 
scribed in  the  novel  as  taking  place  upon  the  return 
of  Dandie  from  Stagshawbank  Fair. 

All  this,  however,  is  but  further  proof  of  the  com- 
positeness  of  the  portrait.  Neither  Willie  Elliot,  nor 
James  Davidson,  nor  the  Blackhouse  Laidlaws,  nor 
any  of  the  others,  are  to  be  accepted  as  individual 
characterisations.  There  were  so  many  of  the  class 
that  identification  is  out  of  the  question  unless  Scott 
himself  had  expressly  afforded  the  clue,  which  he  does 
not  do.  Dandie  Dinmont  is  nothing  more  than  a 
type  of  the  large-hearted  Border  farmer  of  a  day  now 
long  by.  Drawn  by  the  deftest  artist  in  fiction,  the 
portrait  has  passed  into  the  realm  of  historical  repre- 
sentations, and  flying  years  will  only  add  to  its  value. 


CHAPTER   FOUR 

GUY  MANNERING 
"DOMINIE  SAMPSON" 


I  do  present  you  with  a  man  of  mine 
Cunning  in  classics  and  the  mathematics." 

Shakespeare. 


CHAPTER  FOUR  GUY 

MANNERING  "DOMINIE  SAMPSON" 

IN  AND  AROUND  MELROSE  THERE  IS  THE 

constant  tradition  that  Scott  found  his  Dominie 
Sampson  in  the  son  of  the  parish  minister  of  his  time. 
Lockhart  has  been  quoted  as  authority,  but  Lockhart 
nowhere  expressly  makes  the  statement.  The  most 
that  he  does  is  to  reflect  the  opinion  of  the  Melrosians 
themselves  :  "  Nor  did  Dominie  Thamson,"  he  says, 
"  quarrel  in  after  times  with  the  universal  credence 
of  the  neighbourhood  that  he  had  furnished  many 
features  for  the  inimitable  personage  whose  designa- 
tion so  nearly  resembled  his  own."  There  is,  how- 
ever, little  doubt  as  to  the  correctness  of  the  identi- 
fication. A  good  case,  to  be  sure,  may  be  argued  for 
a  second  claimant,  James  Sanson  ;  whilst  a  third 
has  been  put  into  the  field  in  the  person  of  John 
Leyden,  Scott's  coadjutor  in  the  making  of  the  Min- 
strelsy. The  most  that  may  be  said  for  Leyden  is 
that  he  perhaps  furnished  hints  for  the  character 
of  Dominie  Sampson.  The  claim  made  for  him  can 
hardly  be  taken  seriously.  On  the  other  hand,  if 
contemporary  opinion  is  to  have  any  weight — and  it 
must  be  remembered  that  Scott  offered  no  contradic- 
tion to  it — the  balance  of  evidence  is  in  favour  of 
the  Melrose  representative.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that 
in  the  correspondence  of  Mrs.  Hughes,  of  Ufhngton, 
a  shrewd  visitor  to  Abbotsford  in  its  palmy  days, 
there  is  no  hesitation  to  regard  Thomson  and  Sampson 

as  one  and  the  same. 
67 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS  GUY 

The  father  of  the  prototype — also  the  Rev.  George 
Thomson — was  ordained  minister  of  Melrose  in  the 
year  1788,  and  served  the  cure  for  close  on  half  a  cen- 
tury. During  two-thirds  of  that  period  he  was  in  the 
position  of  an  assistant  and  successor,  the  senior 
minister  dying  in  1811,  Thomson  himself  in  1835. 
Mrs.  Thomson,  the  prototype's  mother,  was  Margaret 
Gillon,  a  daughter  of  the  Manse  of  St.  Boswells.  An 
incident  in  the  career  of  the  elder  Thomson  demon- 
strates the  sturdily  independent  character  of  the  man 
— a  not  inconspicuous  trait  in  his  son's  character.  His 
absentee  colleague  having  asked  for  an  augmenta- 
tion of  stipend,  the  junior  minister  claimed  part,  on 
the  ground  that  he  performed  the  whole  of  the  pas- 
toral duties.  The  Court  listened  to  his  petition  and 
awarded  him  the  entire  augmentation.  But  the  sti- 
pend was  still  scantily  meagre,  and  being  a  family 
man,  the  hardship  of  his  case  came  to  be  a  matter  of 
common  talk  in  the  almost  famine  times  that  pre- 
vailed. Such  a  condition  of  affairs  having  reached 
the  ears  of  the  philanthropic  Dr.  Johnston  of  North 
Leith,  that  most  estimable  divine  at  once  organised 
a  subscription,  and  having  obtained  a  considerable 
sum,  forwarded  it  with  a  letter  to  the  Manse  of  Mel- 
rose. Immediately  upon  receipt,  Thomson  wrote  to 
his  Leith  friend  gratefully  acknowledging  his  kind- 
ness, but  desiring  that  every  penny  should  be  repaid 
to  the  donors,  as  "  he  and  his  family  were  content  to 
live  on  their  humble  fare  without  eleemosynary  assist- 
ance, no  matter  from  what  source  it  might  be  prof- 

68 


MANNERING        "DOMINIE  SAMPSON" 

fered."  Thomson  (still  dealing  with  the  father)  was 
an  exceedingly  guileless  person.  Forgathering  one 
day  with  an  unknown  pedestrian  making  his  way  to 
Lauder,  he  handed  him  his  watch  with  a  request  that 
it  might  be  left  at  the  watchmaker's  there  for  repair. 
Needless  to  say,  neither  watch  nor  stranger  were  seen 
again. 

George  Thomson,  the  Dominie,  was  educated  at 
Melrose,  and  at  the  Nest,  Jedburgh,  and  afterwards  at 
the  University  of  Edinburgh.  On  2nd  April  1816 
he  was  licensed  as  a  preacher  by  the  Presbytery  of 
Selkirk,  and  to  the  end  of  his  days  he  was  never  any- 
thing more  than  a  probationer.  For  a  time  he  was 
his  father's  helper,  and  preached  regularly  to  appre- 
ciative congregations,  says  one  who  can  still  remem- 
ber his  appearances  in  the  pulpit.  He  had  in  him  a 
vein  of  geniality  and  kindliness  and  was  popular 
with  the  parishioners,  despite  his  extraordinary  and 
well-nigh  unpardonable  eccentricities.  But  for  these 
he  might  have  "  wagged  his  head  in  a  pulpit  o'  his 
ain,"  for  he  was  clever  enough  otherwise,  was  "  one 
of  the  most  intelligent  young  men  of  his  time."  He 
lived,  however,  in  a  condition  of  chronic  absent- 
mindedness.  Not  even  Lawson  of  Selkirk  could 
rival  him  upon  that  score.  The  Dominie  confessed 
that  his  mind  wandered  greatly  when  in  the  pul- 
pit. Once  he  fancied  himself  a  General  on  horse- 
back meeting  a  woman  with  a  basketful  of  eggs 
who  caused  his  horse  to  shy  and  throw  him  from 

the  saddle.  At  this  point  he  suddenly  ceased  preach- 
69 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS  GUY 

ing,  and  to  the  dumbfounderment  of  his  hearers  ex- 
claimed, "  There  is  a  grand  army  officer  thrown  by 
an  old  woman  selling  eggs."  Thomson  was  a  tall, 
handsomely-built  man,  vigorous  and  athletic  to  a  de- 
gree. Lockhart  describes  him  as  a  "  dauntless  horse- 
man and  expert  at  the  singlestick."  Unfortunately, 
he  was  minus  a  leg,  the  result  of  a  boyish  wrestling 
bout,  and  the  spirit  with  which  he  refused  at  the  time 
to  betray  the  name  of  the  companion  who  had  occa- 
sioned his  mishap,  and  the  courage  by  which  he  ever 
afterwards  struggled  against  its  disadvantages,  raised 
him  to  a  special  share  in  Scott's  favour,  who  often  said, 
"  In  the  Dominie,  like  myself,  accident  has  spoiled  a 
capital  lifeguardsman."  This  defect  notwithstanding, 
he  was  a  wonderful  walker,  and  could  cover  great  dis- 
tances with  surprising  rapidity.  He  is  alleged  to  have 
walked  from  Edinburgh  to  Melrose  in  nine  hours, 
finishing  the  day  by  climbing  to  the  top  of  theEildons, 
a  performance  which  a  man  possessed  of  both  limbs 
might  find  it  difficult  to  beat.  Though  so  good  a  ped- 
estrian, he  dearly  loved  a  ride  on  horseback,  and  many 
stories  are  told  of  his  escapades  in  that  connection. 
Even  on  Sundays  when  a  pony  was  brought  to  the 
church  door  for  the  use  of  a  rheumatic  worshipper, 
George  would  mount  the  animal,  take  a  ride  round  the 
town,  and  return  to  the  kirk  door  where  the  owner  was 
impatiently  awaiting  his  appearance.  One  fine  Sun- 
day morning  he  hired  a  pony  from  Andrew  Marr,  inn- 
keeper in  Melrose,  to  ride  to  Lilliesleaf,  where  he  was 

to  take  duty  for  the  day.    When  the  service  was  over, 

70 


MANNERING        "DOMINIE  SAMPSON" 

George  set  out  for  home,  but  at  Bowden  Moor  he 
dismounted  and  did  the  remainder  of  the  journey  on 
foot,  leaving  the  pony  to  its  own  sweet  will.    As  the 
day  wore  on  and  there  was  no  sign  of  the  return  of 
his  beast,  Marr  went  down  to  the  Manse  to  make 
inquiries.    There  he  saw  George,  who  excused  him- 
self with  the  remark  that  as  he  thought  the  animal 
would  be  the  better  of  a  bite  of  grass  he  had  left  it 
on  Bowden  Moor.    Fearing  the  loss  of  his  mare,  Marr 
went  off  in  search  of  her,  and  found  her,  as  George 
had  said,  quietly  browsing  at  the  foot  of  the  Eildons. 
Thomson  was  very  fond  of  children.    His  sermon- 
ettes  to  the  young  people  of  Melrose  were  said  to  be 
models  of  their  kind.     Like  his  counterpart  in  the 
novel,  he  was  at  his  best  with  young  persons,  and 
with  them  he  was  ever  a  beloved  and  popular  figure  : 
44  God  bless  him  for  it !  "  said  Bertram,  shaking  the 
Dominie's  hand ;   "  he  deserves  the  love  with  which 
I  have  always  regarded  even  that  dim  and  imperfect 
shadow  of  his  memory  which  my  childhood  retained." 
"  And  God  bless  you  both,  my  dear  children  !  "  said 
Sampson  ;  "  if  it  had  not  been  for  your  sake  I  would 
have  been  contented — had  Heaven's  pleasure  so  been 
— to  lay  my  head  upon  the  turf  beside  my  patron." 

About  the  year  1812,  George  Thomson  was  install- 
ed as  "  Dominie  "  at  Abbotsford.  "  I  am  relieved," 
Scott  wrote  to  Terry,  "  of  the  labour  of  hearing 
Walter's  lesson  by  a  gallant  son  of  the  church,  who 
with  one  leg  of  wood,  and  another  of  oak,  walks 
from  and  to  Melrose  every  day  for  that  purpose."  Of 
7i 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS  GUY 

Scott's  four  children,  Sophia,  the  eldest,  was  passing 
into  her  teens ;  Walter  was  eleven,  Ann  about  nine, 
and  Charles  five.  The  Dominie's  business  was  mostly 
with  the  boys,  with  Walter  in  particular,  who  was 
being  prepared,  it  was  hoped,  for  the  law.  For  how 
many  years  Walter  was  under  the  sway  of  Dominie 
Thomson  is  not  very  clear  from  Lockhart's  pages.  At 
sixteen,  however,  he  was  a  Cornet  of  the  Selkirkshire 
Yeomanry.  At  eighteen  he  joined  the  18th  Regiment 
of  Hussars.  Towards  the  close  of  1820  Walter  is 
informed  (in  a  letter  from  his  father)  that  "  Dominie 
Thomson  has  gone  to  a  Mrs.  Dennistoun,  of  Colgrain,  to 
drill  her  youngsters.  I  am  afraid  he  will  find  a  change ; 
but  I  hope  to  have  a  nook  open  to  him  by  and  by — 
as  a  sort  of  retreat  or  harbour  on  his  lee."  It  would 
appear,  therefore,  that  Thomson  was  tutor  at  Abbots- 
ford  for  seven  summers  in  all.  The  "  nook  "  which 
Scott  desired  to  find  for  him  was  never  visualized,  de- 
spite many  valiant  attempts.  Patronage  was  at  its 
height  in  the  Church  of  Scotland,  and  though  Scott 
numbered  among  his  friends  many  patrons  of  livings, 
he  was  never  able  to  influence  them  successfully  on 
Thomson's  behalf.  We  have  him  writing  (1819)  to  the 
Duke  of  Buccleuch  for  the  Kirk  of  Middlebie  :  "  It  is 
doomed  this  letter  is  not  to  close  without  a  request.  I 
conclude  your  Grace  has  already  heard  from  fifty  ap- 
plicants and  I  come  forward  as  the  fifty-first  in  behalf 
of  George  Thomson,  being  the  grinder  of  my  boys,  and 
therefore  deeply  entitled  to  my  gratitude  and  mygood 
offices  as  far  as  they  can  go.    He  is  nearer  Parson 


72 


MANNERING        "DOMINIE  SAMPSON" 

Abraham  Adams  than  any  living  creature  I  ever  saw 
— very  learned,  very  religious,  very  simple,  and  ex- 
tremely absent.  His  father,  till  lately,  had  but  a  sort  of 
half  stipend,  during  the  incumbency  of  a  certain  no- 
torious Mr.  [Maclagan],  to  whom  he  acted  only  as 
assistant.  The  poor  devil  was  brought  to  the  grind- 
stone (having  had  the  want  of  precaution  to  beget  a 
large  family) ,  and  became  the  very  figure  of  a  fellow 
who  used  to  come  upon  the  stage  to  sing '  Let  us  all  be 
unhappy  together.'  This  poor  lad  George  was  his  sav- 
ing angel,  not  only  educating  himself,  but  taking  on 
himthe  education  of  two  of  his  brothers,  and  maintain- 
ing them  out  of  his  own  scanty  pittance.  He  is  a  sen- 
sible lad,  and  by  no  means  a  bad  preacher,  a  staunch 
Anti-Gallican,  and  orthodox  in  his  principles.  Should 
your  Grace  find  yourself  at  liberty  to  give  countenance 
to  this  very  innocent  and  deserving  creature,  I  need 
not  say  it  will  add  to  the  many  favours  you  have  con- 
ferred on  me ;  but  I  hope  the  parishioners  will  have 
also  occasion  to  say, '  Weel  bobbit,  George  of  Middle- 
bie.'  Your  Grace's  aide-de-camp,  who  knows  young 
Thomson  well,  will  give  you  a  better  idea  of  him  than 
I  can  do.  He  lost  a  leg  by  an  accident  in  his  boyhood, 
which  spoiled  as  bold  and  fine-looking  a  grenadier  as 
ever  charged  bayonet  against  a  Frenchman's  throat. 
I  think  your  Grace  will  not  like  him  the  worse  for  hav- 
ing a  spice  of  military  and  loyal  spirit  about  him.  If 
you  knew  the  poor  fellow,  your  Grace  would  take  un- 
common interest  in  him,  were  it  but  for  the  odd  mix- 
ture of  sense  and  simplicity,  and  spirit  and  good 
73 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS  GUY 

morals. ' '  But  a  day  or  two  afterwards  Scott  confessed 
to  Adam  Ferguson  that  he  had  "  little  expectation  of 
success  in  his  suit."  "  If  the  Duke  mentions  him  to 
you  pray  lend  him  a  lift.  With  a  kirk  and  a  manse, 
the  poor  fellow  might  get  a  good  farmer's  daughter, 
and  beget  grenadiers  for  His  Majesty's  service.  But 
as  I  said  before,  I  dare  say  all  St.  Hubert's  black  pack 
are  in  full  cry  upon  the  living,  and  that  he  has  little 
or  no  chance.  It  is  something,  however,  to  have  tabled 
him,  as  better  may  come  of  it  another  day."  That 
"  another  day  "  never  dawned  for  the  Melrose  pro- 
bationer. There  could  have  been  only  one  obstacle 
— the  pitiful  eccentricity  of  the  man.  A  passage  in 
Scott's  Diary,  28th  December  1825,  reveals  the  ten- 
der solicitude  of  the  author  of  Guy  Mannering  for 
his  Abbotsford  protege  :  "  Last  night  George  Thom- 
son came  to  see  how  I  was,  poor  fellow.  He  has 
talent,  is  well-informed,  and  has  an  excellent  heart ; 
but  there  is  an  eccentricity  about  him  that  defies 
description.  I  wish  to  God  I  saw  him  provided  in  a 
country  kirk.  That,  with  a  rational  wife — that  is, 
if  there  is  such  a  thing  to  be  gotten  for  him, — would, 
I  think,  bring  him  to  a  steady  temper.  At  present 
he  is  between  the  tyning  and  the  winning.  If  I  could 
get  him  to  set  to  any  hard  study,  he  would  do  some- 
thing clever."  Without  kirk,  without  wife  also.  After 
his  father's  demise,  the  Dominie  became  a  teacher  in 
Edinburgh,  where,  on  the  morning  of  the  7th  January 
1838,  he  was  discovered  dead  in  bed.  There  is  a  story 
that  the  socket  of  his  wooden  leg  contained  a  hun- 

74 


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MANNERING        "DOMINIE  SAMPSON" 

dred  sovereigns  of  his  savings.  In  chronicling  his 
death  the  Edinburgh  Advertiser  said  that  Thomson 
was  "  an  excellent  classical  scholar,  a  very  superior 
mathematician,  and  a  man  of  uncommon  general  in- 
formation. He  had  remarkable  simplicity  of  char- 
acter, indeed  from  a  moral  point  of  view  he  was  the 
most  amiable,  downright,  and  honest  of  human 
beings.  In  fine,  there  was  displayed  in  him  an  utter 
negation  of  anything  like  duplicity  and  malevolence. 
One  peculiarity  he  had  in  common  with  many  men  of 
strong  original  mind,  he  was  very  absent,  remarkably 
so  ;  and  we  are  not  sure  but  some  of  the  eccentrici- 
ties which  he  exhibited  and  the  cause  of  which  may 
be  traced  to  his  absence  of  mind  were  the  occasion  of 
his  advancement  in  life  not  having  been  at  all  com- 
mensurate with  his  merits  and  attainments.  It  was 
impossible  to  know  the  man  without  feeling  a  regard, 
ay,  a  love,  for  him.  The  milk  of  human  kindness  in 
his  own  breast  flowed  in  no  scanty  stream ;  and  the 
warmth  of  his  feelings,  which  it  was  not  his  nature  to 
disguise  or  repress,  was  calculated  to  endear  him  to 
all  who  enjoyed  his  friendship."  His  remains  repose 
close  to  the  great  east  oriel  of  Melrose  Abbey.  It 
has  been  stated  that  the  prototype  must  often  have 
preached  in  the  Abbey  when  a  portion  of  it  was  used 
as  the  parish  church.  That,  however,  is  a  mistake, 
the  church  on  the  Weir  Hill  having  been  opened  in 
1810,  while  the  son  of  the  minister  was  still  a  boy. 

Several  reminiscences  and  anecdotes  taken  down 
from  the  lips  of  very  old  people  in  Melrose  may  be 
75 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS  GUY 

given  a  more  permanent  record.  Of  the  Dominie's 
pulpit  appearances,  for  example,  it  is  told  how  one 
day  he  was  to  occupy  his  father's  place.  The  bell  had 
ceased  ringing,  but  the  preacher  had  not  appeared  in 
the  vestry.  One  of  the  elders  stepped  outside  to  look 
for  him,  when  he  was  seen  to  emerge  from  the  manse, 
fully  gowned,  and  to  make  his  way  in  a  bee-line  to 
the  kirk  door,  leaping  tombstone  after  tombstone  by 
the  help  of  his  wooden  leg  and  a  walking-stick.  (The 
same  objection  applies  to  this  anecdote  as  to  the 
Abbey  preaching — he  was  not  a  preacher  until  1816.) 
The  most  extraordinary  exhibition  was  in  the  pulpit 
itself.  He  knew  that  some  of  the  congregation  did  not 
relish  read  sermons,  and  he  fell  on  a  plan  by  which  he 
imagined  he  could  read  and  not  be  detected  in  the  act. 
He  wrote  out  his  sermon  on  one  side  only,  on  separate 
sheets  of  manuscript .  These  he  carefully  arranged  in 
the  Bible,  to  be  quietly  drawn  down  into  the  pulpit  as 
occasion  required.  This  did  well  enough  for  a  time, 
but  waxing  eloquent,  an  accident  happened,  and  the 
mass  of  paper  fell  at  his  feet.  The  old-fashioned  box- 
pulpit  was  narrow;  the  wooden  leg  did  not  lend  itself  to 
easy  stooping,  and  in  the  endeavour  to  recover  his  fall- 
en notes  the  unfortunate  man  got  completely  stuck, 
and  had  to  be  released  from  a  somewhat  humiliating 
position.  One  day  he  journeyed  to  Stow  to  preach. 
Arrived,  he  found  to  his  horror  he  had  forgotten  his 
sermon.  He  would  not  be  able  to  go  on  with  the  ser- 
vice, he  said  to  the  elders.  He  was  assured  that  all  that 

was  necessary,  in  addition  to  the  devotional  exercises, 

76 


MANNERING        "DOMINIE  SAMPSON" 

was  a  short  explanation  of  the  passage  read.  Thus 
comforted,  George  ascended  the  pulpit,  but  the  expla- 
nation grew  and  expanded  into  a  discourse  so  eloquent 
and  impressive  that  at  the  end  of  the  service  the  elders 
came  to  him  exclaiming  that  "  whenever  he  came  to 
Stow  again  to  be  sure  to  forget  his  paper."  The  Dom- 
inie was  an  ardent  Freemason.  He  took  an  active  part 
in  the  affairs  of  the  Melrose  Lodge,  one  of  the  oldest  in 
the  kingdom,  coeval  with  the  Abbey.  One  night  when 
presiding  at  one  of  these  meetings,  he  suddenly  seized 
hold  of  a  sword  and  pushing  the  point  of  it  through  a 
loaf  of  bread  which  was  lying  near,  brandished  it  in 
front  of  his  astonished  brethren  exclaiming,  "  Gentle- 
men, I  present  to  you  the  staff  of  life  upon  the  point 
of  death."  He  often  dined  and  spent  the  evening 
with  some  of  the  leading  families  in  the  neighbour- 
hood. Having  accepted  an  invitation  to  The  Pavilion, 
he  made  his  way  to  a  roadman's  cottage  instead, 
where  he  astonished  the  inmates  by  bowing  and 
shaking  hands  with  them  all.  They  had  never  seen 
him  looking  so  "  grand  "  (he  was  in  evening  dress), 
and  it  was  not  until  the  gudewife  spoke  that  mat- 
ters began  to  right  themselves  :  "  Dear  me,  Maister 
George  "  (he  was  always  "  Maister  George  "  in  Mel- 
rose), "  what  has  come  owre  you  the  nicht  ?  "  Look- 
ing round  for  a  moment,  he  gradually  realised  the 
situation,  and  explained  that  he  had  come  to  dine 
with  Lord  Somerville,  and  thought  he  was  in  the  pres- 
ence of  his  Lordship  and  his  family.    The  Dominie's 

happiest  hours,  however,  were  those  spent  at  Abbots- 
77 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS  GUY 

ford.  There  he  was  treated  as  one  of  the  household. 
He  sat  at  table  with  Scott  and  his  guests,  and  per- 
formed chaplain's  functions  after  his  own  unconven- 
tional fashion.  Lockhart  describes  how  at  the  Abbots- 
ford  Hunt  dinner  Thomson  "said  grace,  as  Burns 
says,  '  As  long's  my  arm,'  beginning  with  thanks  to 
the  Almighty,  who  had  given  man  dominion  over 
the  fowls  of  the  air,  and  the  beasts  of  the  field,  and 
expatiating  on  this  text  with  so  luculent  a  comment- 
ary, that  Scott,  who  had  been  fumbling  with  his 
spoon  long  before  he  reached  his  Amen,  could  not 
help  exclaiming  as  he  sat  down,  '  Well  done,  Mr. 
George  !  I  think  we've  had  everything  but  the  view 
holla  !  '  " 

Ini8i9,  when  Prince  Leopold  (afterwards  Leopold  i. 
of  the  Belgians)  visited  Abbotsford,  George  Thom- 
son was  invited  to  meet  him,  and  was  much  chagrin- 
ed at  Scott's  refusal  to  allow  the  repetition  of  a  long 
Latin  grace  which  he  had  prepared  for  the  occasion. 
At  the  Abbotsford  "  handselling,"  he  sang  Laidlaw's 
pathetic  lyric ' '  Lucy's  Flitt  in' , ' '  and  in  the  course  of  the 
evening,  when  the  whole  company  were  assembled 
in  the  new  dining-room,  John  of  Skye  took  his  station, 
and  old  and  young  danced  reels  to  his  melodious  accom- 
paniment until  they  were  weary,  while  Scott  and  the 
Dominie  looked  on  with  gladsome  faces,  and  beat  time 
now  and  then,  the  one  with  his  staff,  the  other  with 
his  wooden  leg. 

It  would  of  course  be  absurd  to  try  to  identify 

George  Thomson  in  all  the  many  strange  character- 

78 


GRAVE  OF  THE  REV.  GEORGE  THOMSON 

"Dominie  Sampson" 


MANNERING        "DOMINIE  SAMPSON" 

istics  of  his  reputed  counterpart,  Abel  Sampson.  The 
Introduction  to  the  novel,  in  which  Sampson  is  re- 
ferred to  as  "  a  poor,  modest,  humble  scholar,  who  had 
won  his  way  through  the  classics,  but  fallen  to  lee- 
ward in  the  voyage  of  life,"  corresponds  but  remotely 
with  the  facts  of  the  case.  For  Thomson,  notwith- 
standing he  was  a  "stickit  minister,"  was  by  no 
means  a  failure.  He  could  always  keep  his  head 
above  water,  and  he  passed  away  in  comparative 
comfort.  It  is  not  generally  known  that  he  penned 
the  description  of  Melrose  in  the  New  Statistical 
Account  of  Scotland  (1834),  one  of  the  best  of  the 
series,  and  some  of  his  still  extant  sermons  show  him 
to  have  been  a  man  of  more  than  average  ability, 
with  a  true  insight  into  human  nature,  and  pos- 
sessed of  a  high  ideal  of  duty.  Julia  Mannering's 
description  of  the  habits  of  the  fictitious  Dominie  is 
hardly  in  keeping  with  one  who  was  considered  fit 
company  for  the  Abbotsford  table — for  one  who 
was  for  years  its  familiar  guest :  "He  pronounces 
a  grace  that  sounds  like  the  scream  of  the  man  in 
the  square  that  used  to  cry  mackerel — flings  his  meat 
down  his  throat  by  shovelfuls,  like  a  dustman  load- 
ing his  cart,  and  apparently  without  the  most  dis- 
tant perception  of  what  he  is  swallowing — then  bleats 
forth  another  unnatural  set  of  tones  by  way  of  re- 
turning thanks,  stalks  out  of  the  room,  and  immerses 
himself  among  a  parcel  of  huge  worm-eaten  folios 
that  are  as  uncouth  as  himself !  "  Nor  in  the  descrip- 
tion of  his  personal  appearance  as  a  "  tall,  gaunt, 
79 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS  GUY 

awkward,  bony  figure,  attired  in  a  threadbare  suit  of 
black,  with  a  coloured  handkerchief,  not  overclean, 
about  his  sinewy,  scraggy  neck,  and  his  nether  per- 
son arrayed  in  grey  breeches,  dark-blue  stockings, 
clouted  shoes,  and  small  copper  buckles,"  can  we  im- 
agine that  we  have  the  counterfeit  presentment  of 
the  Abbotsford  tutor.  Not  so  much  in  appearance, 
as  in  disposition,  has  Scott  limned  George  Thomson 
in  the  fanciful,  affectionate  scholar  of  Guy  Manner- 
ing.  It  is  the  simple,  unadulterated  character  of 
the  man  that  shines  throughout  the  novel.  He  is  a 
most  amusing  oddity  forsooth,  is  constantly  attempt- 
ing and  doing  the  most  foolish,  outre  things,  yet  is 
he  in  many  respects  not  only  a  notable  but  a  noble 
figure.  He  has  with  some  truth  been  compared  to  the 
great  hero  of  Cervantes.  What  Dr.  Johnson  said  of 
Don  Quixote  may  be  applied  not  inappropriately  to 
Dominie  Sampson :  "However  Cervantes  embarrasses 
Don  Quixote  with  absurd  distresses,  he  gives  him  so 
much  sense  and  virtue  as  may  preserve  our  esteem, 
wherever  he  is,  or  whatever  he  does ;  he  is  made  by 
matchless  dexterity  commonly  ridiculous,  but  never 
contemptible." 

Had  Johnson  lived  to  read  and  enjoy  Guy  Manner- 
ing  he  would  probably  have  thought  that,  in  describ- 
ing the  Dominie,  Scott  had  shown  a  "  dexterity  ' 
equally  "  matchless  "to  the  Spanish  author,  for  may 
we  not  say  of  the  Dominie  that  if  his  character  and 
conduct  are  often  eminently  "  ridiculous  "  both  as  to 

subject  and  act,  they  are  "never  contemptible"  in 

80 


MANNERING        "DOMINIE  SAMPSON" 

either  motive  or  spirit.  Here  is  a  man  utterly  de- 
ficent  in  those  qualities  of  sagacity,  prudence,  and 
common  sense  usually  essential  to  worldly  prosperity, 
and  generally  so  requisite  to  obtain  the  esteem  and 
respect  of  others  ;  and  yet,  as  a  kindly  critic  puts  it, 
though  Sampson  is  destitute  of  these  qualities,  the 
wisest  man  of  honour  and  principle  who  ever  read 
the  book  cannot  study  his  character  without  some 
admiration  for  it,  and  of  which  he  would  own  that 
many  infinitely  superior  to  the  poor  Dominie  in  sense 
and  shrewdness  were  totally  unworthy. 

But  however  much  of  a  caricature  Dominie  Samp- 
son may  be,  is  there  not  some  honour  and  glory  in 
being  even  caricatured  by  such  a  master  as  Walter 
Scott  ?  Thomson  himself  was  rather  proud  of  the  fact. 
It  is  said  some  of  his  friends  resented  it.  Neverthe- 
less Guy  Mannering,  as  one  of  the  masterpieces  of  the 
novelist's  art,  has  won  its  immortality  very  largely  be- 
cause of  this  boldly  executed  and  essentially  honest, 
good-natured  figure,  in  whose  hands  is  bound  up  so 
much  of  the  destiny  of  the  story. 

II 

JAMES   SANSON 

Accordingto  Robert  Chambers,  a secondOriginal  has 

been  found  for  Dominie  Sampson  in  the  Rev.  James 

Sanson,  minister  of  the  preaching  station  at  Leadhills, 

in  Lanarkshire,  towards  the  close  of  the  eighteenth 

century.    Here  the  points  of  resemblance  are  quite  as 
81  F 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS  GUY 

remarkable.  There  is  the  similarity  of  the  name,  as 
well  as  Sanson's  constant  use  of  the  word  "  pro-di-gi- 
ous,  pronounced  syllabically,  without  moving  a  muscle 
of  his  countenance."  It  was  Scott's  early  friend,  John 
Irving,  W.S.,  who  as  a  boy  took  notice  of  this  peculi- 
arity and  related  it  to  Scott. 

Of  Sanson's  somewhat  chequered  career  little  in- 
formation is  available.  He  was  a  native  of  Lauder- 
dale, son  of  the  tenant  of  Bridgehaugh  Mill,  in  the 
parish  of  Legerwood.  He  was  first  of  all  a  pupil  at  the 
country  school  of  Legerwood,  then  at  Earlston  School, 
whose  teacher,  John  Mill,  was  a  notable  classical  scho- 
lar. Thereafter  he  passed  to  the  Universities  of  Edin- 
burgh and  Glasgow,  and  at  the  latter  of  these  he  com- 
pleted his  theological  curriculum.  Sanson  was,  all 
accounts  say,  a  diligent  student,  excelling  in  linguistic 
attainments  and  philosophy.  He  was  licensed  as  a 
preacher  by  the  Presbytery  of  Earlston,  24th  Novem- 
ber 1778,  and  became  an  acceptable,  an  admired  pul- 
piteer. In  this,  both  Sanson  and  Thomson  were  a  long 
way  ahead  of  the  Dominie,  whose  only  appearance  in 
public,  it  will  be  recollected,  ended  so  disastrously.  Ad- 
ditional to  his  ministerial  duties,  Sanson,  like  Thom- 
son, acted  as  tutor  in  a  number  of  private  families. 
Living  no  doubt  very  economically  after  the  manner 
of  his  rearing,  he  managed  to  save  a  sum  of  twenty-five 
pounds,  a  small  fortune  in  those  days  to  a  youth  of 
Sanson's  habits.  This  he  devoted  to  an  excursion 
into  England  on  foot.    He  made  his  way  to  Harwich, 

crossed  to  Holland,  travelled  through  a  considerable 

82 


MANNERING        "DOMINIE  SAMPSON" 

portion  of  Germany,  and  returned  to  Scotland  after  a 
lengthened  absence,  having  only  spent  about  a  third 
of  his  twenty-five  pounds  !  How  he  maintained  him- 
self during  his  sojourn  was  never  revealed.  He  sel- 
dom spoke  on  the  subject,  and  it  was  thought  that 
much  of  his  time  was  spent  in  the  monasteries,  where 
the  monks  were  ever  ready  to  show  acts  of  kindness 
to  men  of  such  profundity  of  learning  as  Sanson  un- 
doubtedly showed. 

In  1784  he  became  tutor  in  the  Manse  of  Earlston. 
There  he  remained  for  several  years.  The  Rev.  Laur- 
ence Johnston  was  minister  of  the  parish,  and  Sanson 
acted  as  his  helper.  There  are  no  traditions  in  Earl- 
ston respecting  Dominie  Sanson;  indeed  few  of  the  in- 
habitants have  heard  his  name.  From  Earlston,  he 
removed  to  Elliston,  St.  Boswells,  the  residence  of 
Thomas  Scott,  uncle  of  Sir  Walter,  who  was  factor  on 
the  Crailing  estate.  While  superintending  the  edu- 
cation of  that  gentleman's  family,  Scott's  cousins,  he 
was  appointed  to  the  charge  of  Carlanrig  Chapel  (now 
the  parish  of  Teviothead)  which  he  held  in  conjunc- 
tion with  his  tutorial  work.  Next,  on  22nd  January 
1788,  we  find  him  ordained  at  Earlston  for  service  at 
Leadhills,  where  he  was  employed  as  Lord  Hopetoun's 
chaplain  among  the  miners.  Here,  "with  an  ad- 
mirable but  unfortunate  tenaciousness  of  duty,  he 
patiently  continued  to  exercise  his  honourable  calling 
to  the  irreparable  destruction  of  his  own  health."  His 
death  took  place  in  1795.  Sanson's  burial-place  cannot 
be  discovered.  Diligent  search  has  been  made  both  in 
83 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS  GUY 

Leadhills  and  Crawford  churchyards  without  success. 
Probably  (supposing  him  to  be  interred  in  either  of 
these  places)  no  memorial  was  erected  over  his  remains, 
or  any  such  monument  has  long  since  been  defaced  or 
altogether  crumbled  away.  Robert  Chambers  says 
that  he  was  a  man  "of  the  greatest  stature,  nearly 
six  feet  high,  and  otherwise  proportionately  enormous. 
His  person  was  coarse,  his  limbs  large,  and  his  manners 
awkward ;  so  that,  while  people  admired  the  innocence 
and  simplicity  of  his  character,  they  could  not  help 
smiling  at  the  clumsiness  of  his  motion  and  the  rude- 
ness of  his  address.  His  soul  was  pure  and  untainted, 
— the  seat  of  many  manly  and  amiable  virtues."  John 
Irving  described  him  to  Scott  as  a  "tall,  awkward  and 
bashful  gentleman,  fond  of  curling  and  bowling,  and 
devoted  to  books  of  all  sorts  and  sizes."  * 


III 

It  is  unlikely  that  Scott  adopted  John  Leyden  as 
his  Original  in  depicting  the  eccentric  though  worthy 
Dominie.  Leydenbegan  his  career  as  a  country  school- 
master at  the  Luggie,  Clovenfords,  and  blossomed  into 
a  minister  of  the  Kirk,  albeit,  like  Abel  Sampson,  a 
' '  stickit  minister. ' '  He  was  a  tutor  t oo,  the  most  pro- 
found linguist  of  his  time,  and  a  voracious  bookworm. 
Leyden's  voice  was  "raucous,  naturally  loud  and 
harsh,  and  (in  a  dispute)  exaggerated  into  what  he 

*  See  a  lengthy  correspondence  in  The  Scotsman,  February  to 
March  1903,  on  the  subject  of  Dominie  Sampson.  Some  inter- 
esting particulars  are  given  of  James  Sanson. 

84 


MANNERING        "DOMINIE  SAMPSON » 

himself  used  to  call  his  saw-tones,  which  were  not 
very  pleasant  to  the  ear  of  strangers.  His  manner  was 
animated,  his  movements  abrupt,  and  the  gestures 
with  which  he  enforced  his  arguments  rather  forcible 
than  elegant ;  so  that,  altogether,  his  first  appearance 
was  somewhat  appalling."  Physically,  however,  Ley- 
den  and  Sampson  were  poles  asunder.  Leyden  was  of 
middle  size,  thin,  muscular ;  his  features  well-propor- 
tioned ;  his  cheek  a  clear  hectic  red. 

Between  Scott  and  Leyden  there  existed  the  most 
genuine  friendship  till  the  close  of  the  latter's  brief 
life  in  1811.  It  fell  to  Scott  to  pen  the  Memoir  of  his 
quondam  literary  associate  for  the  Edinburgh  Annual 
Register.  Leyden  is  mentioned  more  than  once  in  The 
Lay : 

"  His  bright  and  brief  career  is  o'er, 
And  mute  his  tuneful  strains  ; 
Quenched  is  his  lamp  of  varied  lore 
That  loved  the  light  of  song  to  pour  ; 
A  distant  and  a  deadly  shore 
Has  Leyden's  cold  remains." 

In  St.  Ronan's  Well  Josiah  Cargill  is  made  to  utter 
a  similar  sentiment.  So  that,  if  for  nothing  but  the 
memory  of  a  dear  friendship,  can  we  conceive  of  Scott 
caricaturing  his  dead  ally,  spite  of  any  honour  in  being 
so  caricatured  ?  No  doubt  there  are  resemblances  be- 
tween Leyden  and  Sampson.  Both  were  poor,  both 
were  learned,  both  were  bookmen,  both  ridiculed  as- 
trology, and  both  were  Cameronians.  On  the  prin- 
ciple that  Scott's  portraits  were  "  composites  "  less  or 
more,  it  is  probable  that  Leyden  was  made  to  furnish 
85 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS 

hints  for  the  character  of  the  Dominie.  But  that  is  all 
that  can  be  said. 

Lancelot  Whale,  Scott's  dominie  at  Kelso,  has  been 
spoken  of  in  this  connection ;  and  there  are  others 
with  whom  the  name  is  associated.  But  if  the  honour 
is  to  be  divided,  it  can  only  be  divided  between  Thom- 
son and  Sanson. 


CHAPTER   FIVE 

GUY   MANNERING 
" PLEYDELL " 


So  wise,  so  grave  a  tongue, 

And  loud  withal,  that  would  not  wag,  nor  scarce 

Lie  still  without  a  fee." 

Ben  Jonson. 


CHAPTER  FIVE 

GUY  MANNERING        «  PLEYDELL  " 

THE  FIRST  WE  HEAR  OF  PLEYDELL  IS  IN 

his  capacity  as  Sheriff  of  the  County  conducting  the 
inquiry  into  Kennedy's  murder.  He  is  not  mentioned 
by  name,  for  his  appearance  then  is  purely  official  and 
ephemeral.  He  does  not  make  his  debut  as  the  re- 
doubted Counsellor  till  well  on  in  the  story,  when 
Mannering  and  Dinmont  are  introduced  to  the  satur- 
nalia in  which  Pleydell  was  principal  actor.  It  is  from 
Scott  himself  we  derive  the  information  which  con- 
nects one  of  his  own  old  friends  with  this  character. 
In  June  1830  Scott  visited  at  Luscar  *  and  set  down 
in  his  Diary  that  he  "  saw  with  pleasure  the  painting 
by  Raeburn,  of  my  old  friend  Adam  Rolland,  who 
was  in  the  external  circumstances,  but  not  in  frolic 
or  fancy,  my  prototype  for  Paul  Pleydell."  Pleydell 
is  pictured  as  a  lively,  sharp-looking  gentleman,  with 
a  professional  shrewdness  in  his  eye,  and,  generally 
speaking,  a  professional  formality  in  his  manners. 
Earlier  in  the  tale  he  is  said  to  be  "  well  born  and 
well  educated ;  and,  though  somewhat  pedantic  and 
professional  in  his  habits, he  enjoyed  general  respect." 
As  a  veteran  of  the  law,  he  was  "  thirled  to  the  old 
road,  and  was  one  of  those  praisers  of  the  past  time, 
who,  with  ostentatious  obstinacy,  affected  the  man- 
ners of  a  former  generation.  He  was  a  good  scholar, 
an  excellent  lawyer,  and  a  worthy  man."    Thus  far 

*  Scott  indicates  Anstruther  as  the  place  where  he  saw  the  por- 
trait.   That,  of  course,  is  a  mistake. 
89 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS 

the  Rollandic  part  of  the  prototype,  though  the  de- 
scription might  stand  for  that  of  a  number  of  metro- 
politan lawyers  of  the  time.  We  have  Scott's  state- 
ment, however,  that  the  particular  person  he  had 
in  view  was  Adam  Rolland.  The  rest  of  the  char- 
acterisation belongs  to  another  and  a  totally  differ- 
ent personage,  of  whose  identity  Scott  gives  not  the 
slightest  clue.  He  goes  on  to  say  of  Pleydell  that 
"  his  professionalism,  like  his  three-tailed  wig  and 
black  coat,  he  could  slip  off  on  a  Saturday  evening, 
when  surrounded  by  a  party  of  jolly  companions,  and 
disposed  for  what  he  called  his  altitudes." 

To  combine  in  a  single  character,  as  Scott  was  so 
fond  of  doing,  the  habits  and  foibles  of  two  or  more 
individuals  who  may  be  at  opposite  poles  of  tempera- 
ment, is  disconcerting  enough.  There  was  no  pos- 
sible resemblance  between  Rolland  and  Pleydell  "  of 
the  High- J  inks,"  for  whom  another  Original  must  be 
found.  A  well-established  tradition  of  the  Parliament 
House  points  to  Andrew  Crosbie  as  the  undisputed 
prototype — a  limb  of  the  law,  who,  in  the  heyday  of  his 
power,  enjoyed  as  great  a  reputation  as  Rolland  had 
in  his. 

To  take  Rolland  first.    Adam  Rolland — who  must 

not  be  confounded  with  his  nephew  of  the  same 

name,  Principal  Clerk  of  Session  and  Scott's  colleague 

— had  passed  his  eightieth  year  when  Guy  Mannering 

appeared.    Rolland's  father  was  Laird  of  Luscar  and 

Gask  in  Fifeshire.    Born  in  1734,   Adam  received 

his  earlier  education  at  Dunfermline.    He  studied 

90 


GUY  MANNERING  "PLEYDELL" 

law  at  Edinburgh  University,  and  was  called  to  the 
Bar  in  1757.  The  legal  profession,  he  said,  was  never 
to  his  liking,  and  he  only  adopted  it  in  deference 
to  the  opinion  of  friends.  A  great  luminary  he  be- 
came nevertheless.  He  did  not  shine  as  a  pleader 
in  public,  for  he  seldom  opened  his  mouth  in  Court, 
but  confined  himself  to  written  pleadings  and  the 
giving  of  opinions,  a  branch  of  professional  employ- 
ment in  which  he  is  averred  to  have  had  no  rival. 
Had  he  desired  it,  he  might  have  become  a  Judge  of 
the  Supreme  Court ;  but  though  urged  many  times, 
he  could  not  bring  himself  to  relinquish  his  quiet 
sphere  for  one  so  prominent  and  in  which  public 
speaking  was  a  necessity.  Retiring  from  business 
about  1799,  he  was  appointed  Deputy-Governor  of 
the  Bank  of  Scotland,  and  died  at  his  Edinburgh  re- 
sidence in  Queen  Street,  on  18th  August  1819.  He 
never  married.  It  is  said  that  but  for  his  extreme 
shyness  he  would  have  asked  (not  unsuccessfully)  for 
the  hand  of  Miss  Gray  of  Teasis.  That  lady  died 
first,  bequeathing  to  him  all  her  possessions  and  her 
burial-plot  in  St.  Cuthbert's  Churchyard,  where  by 
and  by  he  was  laid  beside  her. 

Two  pen-portraits  of  Adam  Rolland  have  come 
down  to  us,  exhibiting  a  study  in  contrasts  almost  as 
startling  as  those  which  exist  between  the  prototypes, 
Rolland  and  Crosbie,  themselves.  The  Edinburgh 
Magazine  (September  1819),  in  chronicling  the  death 
of  Rolland,  refers  to  him  as  "  an  accomplished  gentle- 
man, an  elegant  scholar,  an  eminent  lawyer,  a  Chris- 
9i 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS 

tian  from  conviction,  a  man  of  unsullied  probity  and 
honour,  of  liberal  and  munificent  habits  and  an  ardent 
lover  of  his  country.  He  was  an  acute  observer  of  men 
and  manners,  had  an  inexhaustible  fund  of  anecdote, 
which  he  never  introduced  but  with  point  and  effect. 
He  had  an  exact  and  critical  knowledge  of  the  Latin 
language,  and  the  English  language  he  made  it  his 
peculiar  study  to  speak,  as  well  as  to  write,  with 
purity  and  elegance.  He  was  a  zealous  Presbyterian 
and  regularly  attended  public  worship  until  his  deaf- 
ness rendered  him  incapable  of  hearing.  The  Sunday 
he  carefully  kept  sacred  both  from  business  and  com- 
pany. Amid  the  unceasing  round  of  engagements, 
great,  he  said,  was  the  benefit  he  had  derived  from 
that  rule  which  gave  him  the  command  of  a  portion 
of  time  to  himself.  As  to  his  personal  appearance, 
he  was  little  above  the  middle  size,  erect,  without  any 
tendency  to  stoop,  even  in  his  declining  years ;  his 
features,  as  well  as  person,  elegantly  formed,  with  a 
graceful  demeanour  and  fine  expression  of  counten- 
ance ;  exact  in  his  dress,  without  any  approach  to 
frivolity — a  finished  gentleman  of  the  former  age — 
but  without  any  of  that  peevish  nonconformity  with 
the  present  time,  which  is  often  the  weakness  of  age, 
and  which  lessens  that  usefulness  which  men  so  re- 
spectable as  Mr.  Rolland  have  always  in  their  power, 
and  which  he  never  failed  to  exercise  to  his  friends, 
his  neighbours,  and  the  public.  He  took  a  warm 
interest  in  the  public  and  private  occurrences  of  the 

day,  and  was  always  ready  to  countenance  by  his 

92 


•J 


GUY  MANNERING  "PLEYDELL" 

name,  and  aid  by  munificent  donations,  every  chari- 
table plan  that  appeared  to  him  to  be  recommended 
by  its  utility.  His  charities,  both  of  a  public  and  pri- 
vate kind,  were  liberal  and  extensive,  and  many  who 
were  relieved  by  his  bounty  will  lament  his  death." 

Now  take  this  from  Lord  Cockburn's  Memorials  : 
"  Another  Edinburgh  character  ceased  in  1819  to 
be  gazed  at  by  men.  This  was  Adam  Rolland,  ad- 
vocate, sometimes  said  to  have  sat  to  Scott  for  his 
picture  of  Pleydell ;  a  worthy  but  fantastic  person- 
age. His  professional  practice  had  been  very  exten- 
sive, but  only  as  a  consulting  and  a  writing  counsel ; 
for  he  never  spoke,  nor  honoured  the  public  by  doing 
anything  in  its  presence.  Divested  of  buckram,  he 
was  a  learned  and  sound  lawyer,  and  a  good  man, 
much  respected  by  his  few  friends.  But  there  are 
many  men  to  whom  the  buckram  is  everything,  and 
he  was  one  of  them.  It  was  by  his  outside  that  he  was 
known  to  the  world.  He  was  old  at  last ;  but  his  youth 
was  marked  by  the  same  external  absurdity  that  ad- 
hered to  him  through  life,  and  I  presume  followed  him 
into  his  coffin. 

"  His  dresses,  which  were  changed  at  least  twice 
every  day,  were  always  of  the  same  old  beau  cut ; 
the  vicissitudes  of  fashion  being  contemptible  in  the 
sight  of  a  person  who  had  made  up  his  own  mind  as 
to  the  perfection  of  a  gentleman's  outward  covering. 
The  favourite  hues  were  black  and  mulberry :  the  stuffs 
velvet,  fine  kerseymere,  and  satin.  When  all  got  up,  no 
artificial  rose  could  be  brighter  or  stiffer.  He  was  like 
93 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS 

one  of  the  creatures  come  to  life  again  in  a  collection 
of  dried  butterflies.  I  think  I  see  him.  There  he  moves, 
a  few  yards  backwards  and  forwards  in  front  of  his 
house  in  Queen  Street ;  crisp  in  his  mulberry-coloured 
kerseymere  coat,  single-breasted  ;  a  waistcoat  of  the 
same  with  large  old-fashioned  pockets ;  black  satin 
breeches  with  blue  steel  buttons ;  bright  morocco  shoes, 
with  silver  or  blue  steel  buckles ;  white  or  quaker-grey 
silkstockings;  a  copious  frill  and  ruffles;  adarkbrown, 
gold-headed,  slim  cane ,  or  a  slender  green  silk  umbrella : 
everything  pure  and  uncreased.  The  countenance  be- 
fitted the  garb  :  for  the  blue  eyes  were  nearly  motion- 
less, and  the  cheeks,  especially  when  slightly  touched 
by  vermilion,  as  clear  and  as  ruddy  as  a  wax  doll's  ; 
and  they  were  neatly  flanked  by  two  delicately  poma- 
tumed and  powdered  side  curls,  from  behind  which 
there  flowed,  or  rather  stuck  out,  a  thin  pigtail  in  a 
shining  black  ribbon.  And  there  he  moves,  slowly 
and  nicely,  picking  his  steps  as  if  a  stain  would  kill  him, 
and  looking  timidly,  but  somewhat  slyly,  from  side  to 
side,  as  if  conscious  that  he  was  an  object,  and  smiling 
in  self-satisfaction.  The  whole  figure  and  manner  sug- 
gested the  idea  of  a  costly  brittle  toy,  new  out  of  its 
box.  It  trembled  in  company,  and  shuddered  at  the 
vicinity  of  a  petticoat.  But  when  well  set,  as  I  often 
saw  him,  with  not  above  two  or  three  old  friends,  he 
could  be  correctly  merry,  and  had  no  objection  what- 
ever to  a  quiet  bottle  of  good  claret.  But  a  stranger, 
or  a  word  out  of  joint,  made  him  dumb  and  wretched. 
"It  is  difficult  to  account  for  his  practice  ;    for 

94 


GUY  MANNERING  "  PLEYDELL 


>> 


though  industrious,  honourable,  kind,  and  timidly 
judicious,  he  had  slender  talents,  and  no  force,  and 
the  age  in  which  he  acted  was  one  in  which  I  should 
have  thought  that  neither  Bar  nor  Bench  would  have 
had  any  patience  with  gilded  filigree.  I  wonder  Brax- 
field  did  not  murder  him  by  a  single  grunt.  However, 
I  suppose  that  there  must  have  been  something  more  in 
him  than  I  am  aware  of,  else  he  could  not  have  been 
the  oracle  that  some  people  held  him.  When  I  was 
about  to  begin  my  legal  studies,  I  was  reckoned  a  sin- 
gularly fortunate  youth,  because  he  had  condescend- 
ed to  intimate  that  he  would  advise  me  how  to  con- 
duct them.  I  was  therefore  ordered  to  wait  upon 
him.  I  did  so,  and  after  being  eased  of  some  of  my 
awe  by  a  kind  reception,  and  a  few  very  simple  jokes, 
the  lesson  commenced.  It  consisted  entirely  of  a 
short  discourse  by  the  sage,  for  I  sat  nearly  dumb  ; 
and  its  result  was  more  than  once  summed  and  re- 
peated, as  if  to  make  me  recollect  the  very  words. 
These  I  do  not  now  remember  ;  but  surprise  has  pre- 
vented my  ever  forgetting  their  tone  and  import, 
which  were  exactly  to  this  effect — '  In  short,  my 
young  friend,  philosophy  is  the  vice  of  the  age.  Take 
my  advice,  and  read  nothing  whatever  but  Scotch 
and  civil  law,  except  the  first  volume  of  Blackstone, 
the  introduction  to  Robertson's  Charles  the  Fifth, 
Hume's  History  of  the  Stewarts,  and  De  Lolme ;  never 
have  a  pen  out  of  your  hand,  and  keep  a  commonplace 
book  on  Locke's  plan  ' — a  volume  of  which,  kept  by 
himself,  he  showed  me  as  a  specimen.  In  so  far  as 
95 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS 

kindness  and  pedantry  went,  he  may  be  supposed  to 
have  had  some  resemblance  to  Pleydell ;  but  nobody 
who  knew,  or  indeed  ever  saw,  Rolland  can  imagine 
his  descending  to  High  Jinks,  especially  in  a  tavern." 
Lord  Cockburn's  sketch  was  penned  at  least  a  dozen 
years  after  Rolland's  departure.  There  are  corrobor- 
ations of  the  Advertiser' s  remarks,  but  one  would 
scarcely  associate  both  notices  as  appertaining  to  the 
same  person.  The  truth  is  that  Cockburn  wrote  un- 
advisedly. He  did  not  care  for  Rolland.  His  account 
was  biased,  perverted,  strained.  Moreover,  he  was 
ignorant  of  Rolland's  real  character.  Rolland  be- 
longed neither  to  the  Beau  Nash  nor  the  Georgian 
School  of  dandies.  He  had  his  foibles,  his  idiosyn- 
crasies, amongst  them  a  pronounced  love  of  externals, 
but  not  to  the  extent  indicated  by  Lord  Cockburn's 
impressionism.  The  latter  has  entirely  failed  to  grasp 
the  inner  and  better  traits  of  Rolland,  and  as  for  his 
legal  acumen,  he  relegates  him  to  a  quite  ordinary 
place,  whereas  Rolland  stood  in  the  front  rank  as  a 
pleader,  withal  a  silent  one.  Making  every  allowance 
for  Rolland's  eccentricities,  Lord  Cockburn's  picture 
must  be  confessed  to  be  little  more  than  a  caricature.* 

II 

ANDREW   CROSBIE 

As  already  said,  Andrew  Crosbie  has  been  generally 
held  to  represent  the  "  High- J  inks  "  Pleydell.  Scott, 

*  It  may  be  interesting  to  note  that  the  wife  of  Principal  Rainy, 
Susan  Rolland  of  Luscar,  was  granddaughter  of  Scott's  friend, 

96 


GUY  MANNERING  "PLEYDELL" 

however,  could  not  have  known  much  about  him  per- 
sonally, for  Crosbie  had  been  dead  thirty  years  before 
the  publication  of  Guy  Mannering,  when  the  future 
author  was  a  lad  of  fourteen.  Memories  of  Crosbie 
lingered  about  the  Parliament  House.  His  portrait  still 
adorns  its  walls,  and  in  Scott's  young  advocate  days 
Crosbie's  meteor-like  career  was  one  of  the  chief  tradi- 
tions of  Bench  and  Bar. 

Crosbie  was  a  native  of  Dumfries,  son  of  Andrew 
Crosbie,  and  grandson  of  John  Crosbie,  both  Pro- 
vosts of  the  burgh.  His  mother  was  a  Grierson  of 
Barjarg  (related  to  the  Lag  family)  and  his  uncle- 
in-law  was  Lord  Justice-Clerk  Tinwald.  The  Cros- 
bies  had  long  been  connected  with  the  county.  They 
were  lairds  of  Holm  (now  Goldielea),  a  sweet  spot,  a 
short  distance  from  Dumfries.  Andrew  Crosbie — 
Pleydell's  transcript — was  born  in  1735.  Little  is 
known  of  his  early  life.  He  was  admitted  to  the 
Faculty  of  Advocates  the  same  year  as  Rolland.   Un- 

Adam  Rolland,  W.S.,  and  great-grandniece  of  Pleydell's  proto- 
type : 

Adam  Rolland  of  Gask  and  Luscar,  «* 
d.  1763. 


Adam  Rolland,  "  Pleydell,"  d.  1819.  Rev.  Robert  Rolland,  Culross  = 

I 

Adam  Rolland  of  Gask  and  Luscar,  W.S., 
Principal  Clerk  of  Session. 


Adam  Rolland  of  Gask  and  Luscar, 
W.S. 


Susan  Rolland  =  Rev.  Principal  Rainy,  D.D. 


Dr.  Adam  Rolland  Rainy, 
M.P. 


97 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

like  Rolland,  he  devoted  himself  heart  and  soul  to  his 
studies,  and  quickly  won  his  way  to  recognition  as  the 
most  daring  and  eloquent  pleader  of  his  time.  He 
became  Vice-Dean  of  Faculty,  and  would  have  been 
President  of  the  Court  of  Session  but  for  his  inveterate 
love  of  tavern-haunting.  When  Crosbie  flourished  it 
was  the  fashion  for  members  of  the  Bar  to  transact 
whatever  business  was  not  actually  requiredtobedone 
at  Court,  in  the  taverns  and  coffee-houses  with  which 
the  Lawnmarket  and  High  Street  of  Edinburgh  a- 
bounded.  No  lawyer  could  be  found  at  his  own 
abode.  "  The  chief  thing  was  to  find  out  his  tavern 
and  he  would  be  sure  to  be  there."  Crosbie's  favour- 
ite haunt  was  Clerihugh's  (the  name  in  the  novel),  a 
well-known  howf  in  Writer's  Court  at  the  close  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  It  was  here,  on  that  notable 
Saturday  night  described  in  the  thirty-sixth  chapter, 
that  Mannering  and  Dinmont,  having  turned  from 
the  High  Street  "  into  a  dark  alley,  then  up  a  dark 
stair,  then  into  an  open  door  "  (this  is  hardly  a  pic- 
ture of  the  real  Clerihugh's),  found  themselves  be- 
wildered in  presence  of  orgies  which  had  lasted  from 
well  on  in  the  afternoon.  "With  some  difficulty  a 
waiter  was  prevailed  upon  to  show  Colonel  Manner- 
ing and  Dinmont  the  room  in  which  their  friend, 
learned  in  the  law,  held  his  hebdomadal  carousals. 
The  scene  which  it  exhibited,  and  particularly  the 
attitude  of  the  counsellor  himself,  the  principal 
figure  therein,  struck  his  two  clients  with  amaze- 
ment."   Pleydell  was  "  enthroned  as  a  monarch  in  an 

98 


GUY  MANNERING  "PLEYDELL" 

elbow-chair  placed  on  the  dining-table,  his  scratch 
wig  on  one  side,  his  head  crowned  with  a  bottle-slider, 
his  eye  leering  with  an  expression  betwixt  fun  and  the 
effects  of  wine,  while  his  court  around  him  resounded 
with  such  crambo  scraps  of  verse  as  these  : 

'  Where  is  Gerunto  now  ?   and  what's  become  of  him  ? 
Gerunto's  drowned  because  he  could  not  swim,  etc.  etc' 

"  Dinmont  was  first  in  the  room.  He  stood  aghast 
a  moment,  and  then  exclaimed  :  'It's  him,  sure 
enough.    Deil  o'  the  like  o'  that  ever  I  saw  ! '" 

At  the  period  treated  of  in  the  novel  scenes  such  as 
that  now  described  were  common  to  the  life  of  the 
capital.  Some  English  reviewers  of  Guy  Manner ing 
fell  foul  of  the  author  for  his  "  exaggerated  "  sketches 
of  Edinburgh  society.  Scott,  however,  declared  that 
he  was  not  overstepping  the  bounds  of  accuracy  in 
depicting  the  manner  in  which  the  lawyers  of  long  ago 
united  the  worship  of  Bacchus  with  that  of  Themis. 
In  illustration,  he  quotes  an  episode  in  the  career  of 
Lord  President  Dundas  the  Elder.  Dundas,  when 
Lord  Advocate,  was  called  to  draw  up  an  appeal. 
The  time  was  Saturday  at  noon.  The  Court  had  risen. 
Dundas  had  just  changed  his  dress.  His  servant  and 
horse  were  at  the  foot  of  the  close  to  carry  him  to 
Arniston.  It  was  scarcely  possible  to  get  him  to  lis- 
ten to  a  word.  The  agent,  however,  pretending  to 
ask  a  question  or  two  which  would  not  detain  his 
Lordship  more  than  half  an  hour,  proposed  an  ad- 
journment to  a  neighbouring  tavern.    Thither  they 

went.    The  learned  counsel  was  soon  involved  in  a 
99 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS 

spirited  discussion  of  the  case.  At  length  it  occurred 
to  him  that  he  might  as  well  ride  home  in  the  cool  of 
the  evening.  The  horses  were  stabled.  Dinner  was 
ordered,  and  the  bottle  circulated  freely.  At  nine 
o'clock  at  night,  after  he  had  been  honouring  Bac- 
chus for  so  many  hours,  the  Lord  Advocate  called  for 
paper,  pen,  and  ink,  began  to  dictate  the  appeal,  and 
continued  at  his  task  till  four  o'clock  the  next  morn- 
ing. By  next  day's  post  the  solicitor  sent  the  case  to 
London — a  chef-d' ceuvre  of  its  kind  ;  and  in  which  it 
was  not  necessary  to  correct  five  words.  This,  it  will 
be  recalled,  is  what  actually  happened  with  Driver, 
Pleydell's  drunken  clerk. 

"  Oh,  drink  never  disturbs  him,  Colonel ;  he  can 
write  for  hours  after  he  cannot  speak.  I  remember 
being  called  suddenly  to  draw  an  appeal  case.  I  had 
been  dining,  and  it  was  Saturday  night,  and  I  had 
ill  will  to  begin  to  it  ;  however,  they  got  me  down 
to  Clerihugh's,  and  there  we  sat  billing  till  I  had  a 
fair  tappit  hen  under  my  belt,  and  then  they  per- 
suaded me  to  draw  the  paper.  Then  we  had  to  seek 
Driver,  and  it  was  all  that  two  men  could  do  to  bear 
him  in ;  for,  when  found,  he  was,  as  it  happened, 
both  motionless  and  speechless.  But  no  sooner  was 
his  pen  put  between  his  fingers,  his  paper  stretched 
before  him,  and  he  heard  my  voice,  than  he  began  to 
write  like  a  scrivener  ;  and,  excepting  that  we  were 
obliged  to  have  somebody  to  dip  his  pen  in  the  ink, 
for  he  could  not  see  the  standish,  I  never  saw  a  thing 

scrolled  more  handsomely." 

ioo 


GUY  MANNERING  "PLEYDELL" 

"  But  how  did  your  joint  production  look  the  next 
morning  ?  "  said  the  Colonel. 

"  Wheugh !  capital !  not  three  words  required  to 
be  altered;  it  was  sent  off  by  that  day's  post." 

But  Clubdom  as  practised  in  Crosbie's  day  was 
to  prove  his  undoing.  The  potency  of  the  bottle  not 
even  this  most  brilliant  of  men  could  master  ;  and 
it  was  that  which  killed  him  in  the  end.  He  had 
too  many  "  High  Jinks  "  shrines.  A  songster,  and 
raconteur  of  the  first  water,  a  born  talker,  whose 
bon  mots  bristled  with  wit  and  wisdom,  he  was  the 
life  and  soul  of  each  of  them.  The  Crochallan  Fen- 
cibles,  which  met  in  Danny  Douglas's,  at  the  head 
of  the  Anchor  Close,  was  the  most  famous  of  those 
old  drinking  institutions.  Founded  by  Smellie,  the 
printer-philosopher,  it  was  the  great  resort  of  the 
literary  life  of  the  capital,  numbering  Burns  and 
Boswell  amongst  its  members.  It  was  there  that 
Crosbie  met  Dr.  Johnson  during  the  latter's  visit 
to  Scotland  in  1773.  It  is  no  mean  praise  to  Crosbie 
that  he  was  almost  the  only  one  who  had  the  cour- 
age to  stand  up  to  the  Dictator.  3os-vell  describes 
Crosbie  as  "  My  truly  learned  and  philosophical 
friend,"  and  other  references  to  him  occur  in  the  Life. 
Crosbie's  death  took  place  in  1785.  It  is  said  that 
he  died  of  a  broken  heart,  following  the  failure  of  the 
Douglas  and  Heron  Bank,  of  which  he  was  a  director, 
and  in  which  most  of  his  fortune,  made  at  the  Bar, 
was  involved.     Robert  Chambers  declares  that  he 

passed  away  in  a  state  of  comparative  destitution  and 
101 

LIBRARY 

university  of  California 
riverside 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

friendlessness,  in  the  garret  of  a  great  house  *  he  had 
built  for  himself  in  St.  Andrew  Square,  and  adds  that 
he  was  borne  to  the  grave  by  a  handful  of  uncon- 
cerned strangers.  The  probability,  however,  is  that 
he  was  buried  in  St.  Michael's  Churchyard,  Dum- 
fries, where  some  years  ago  his  name  could  be  seen 
on  the  family  tombstone.  He  left  a  widow,  Elizabeth 
Barker,  who,  on  2nd  July  1785,  was  granted  ali- 
ment of  £40  annually  from  the  Faculty  of  Advocates, 
"  in  consideration  of  her  poverty-stricken  circum- 
stances." 

*  "This  very  expensive  and  whimsical  edifice  was  little  more 
than  roofed  in  when  the  Bank  stopped  payment." — Ramsay's 
Scotland  and  Scotsmen,  vol.  i. 

Principal  Robertson  said  one  day  at  a  dinner :  "  Crosbie,  were 
your  town  and  country  houses  to  meet,  how  they  would  stare  at 
each  other!"  Holm  was  only  thatched  and  of  a  single  story. 
Crosbie's  mansion  in  St.  Andrew  Square  is  the  first  house  to  the 
north  of  the  Royal  Bank.  It  is  now  the  offices  of  the  Scottish 
Union  and  National  Insurance  Company.  After  Crosbie's  day,  it 
became  the  Douglas  Hotel,  and  here  Sir  Walter  spent  his  last 
night  in  Edinburgh. 


CHAPTER    SIX 

GUY  MANNERING 
"  MEG  MERRILIES  " 


Old  Meg  she  was  a  gypsy, 

And  liv'd  upon  the  moors  ; 
Her  bed  it  was  the  brown  heath  turf, 

And  her  house  was  out  of  doors. 

An  old  red  blanket  cloak  she  wore  ; 

A  chip  hat  had  she  on. 
God  rest  her  aged  bones  somewhere — 

She  died  full  long  agone  !  " 

Keats. 


CHAPTER  SIX  GUY 

MANNERING     "MEG  MERRILIES" 

THE   GYPSY   PART   OF    GUY   MANNERING 

Scott  gathered  from  his  father's  memory  of  Jean 
Gordon  of  Yetholm,  and  from  his  own  knowledge  of 
gypsy  life.  The  Gordons  derived  their  surname 
from  the  village  of  Gordon  in  Berwickshire,  of  which 
the  present  Duke  of  Richmond  and  Gordon  is  still 
the  "superior."  Whether  the  Gordons  of  gypsy  blood 
are  sib  to  the  "  gay  Gordons  "  or  not,  or  simply  took 
the  name,  it  can  at  least  be  said  that  they  have 
shown  much  of  their  spirit.  Jean  Gordon,  immortal- 
ised by  Scott,  was  the  most  conspicuous  representa- 
tive of  her  class  in  her  day.  She  is  perhaps  the  best 
known  of  all  the  gypsy  race — queen  of  a  wild  world 
all  her  own. 

Kirk-Yetholm,  on  the  immediate  boundary  between 
the  county  of  Roxburgh  and  Northumberland,  has 
been  the  headquarters  of  Scottish  gypsydom  since  the 
middle  of  the  sixteenth  century.  It  was  about  then 
that  the  gypsies  appeared  on  the  Border  for  the  first 
time.  They  came  into  the  country  boasting  the  high- 
sounding  designation  of  "  Lords  and  Erles  of  Litell 
Egypt,"  and  the  natural  inference  was  that  they  were 
really  natives  of  the  Orient  who  for  some  unexplained 
reason  had  either  been  driven  or  were  self-exiled  from 
the  banks  of  "  Nile's  redundant  stream  "  to  find  new 
homes  in  the  valleys  of  the  Tweed  and  Clyde.  By 
others  again  they  have  been  identified,  not  as  Egyp- 
tians, but  as  descendants  of  the  Lost  Ten  Tribes  of 
105 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS  GUY 

Israel.  With  the  Jew  they  certainly  have  many  things 
in  common,  and  their  complexional  resemblance 
is  striking.  By  that  keen  student  of  prophecy,  Dr. 
Keith,  they  were  considered  a  proof  of  the  fulfilment 
of  Ezekiel's  words,  "  I  will  scatter  the  Egyptians 
among  the  nations  and  will  disperse  them  through 
the  countries."  Grellman's  theory  that  the  gypsies 
reached  Europe  from  India  some  time  after  the  Tamer- 
lane rebellion  in  1417,  has  been  disproved  by  firmly 
established  facts.  More  acceptable  perhaps  is  the 
Behram  Gur  theory,  upheld  by  such  authorities  as  Sir 
Henry  Rawlinson  and  Sir  Richard  Burton.  Behram 
Gur  about  420  a.d.  imported  twelve  thousand  Jat 
minstrels  from  India  into  Persia,  and  their  descend- 
ants emigrating  gradually  westward,  entered  Europe 
as  late  as  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century. 
Be  that  as  it  may,  a  veil  of  mystery  hangs  to  this 
day  over  the  genesis  of  the  gypsy  race,  nor  is  it  likely 
to  be  dispelled. 

The  Scottish  gypsies  had  their  own  septs  and 
dignities,  and  preserved  them  for  many  a  day.  Their 
royal  house  was  that  of  the  Faas.  The  Faas  figure 
not  unfrequently  in  historical  records,  and  they  were 
allied  by  marriage  with  some  of  the  best  families.  Sir 
John  Faa  of  Dunbar,  who  made  himself  notorious 
by  carrying  off  the  Countess  of  Cassillis,  was  the 
hero  of  the  ballad,  "  The  Gypsy  Laddie."  Gypsy 
blood  ran  in  the  veins  of  Mrs.  Carlyle,who  was  not  slow 
to  proclaim  the  fact.    (Does  not  a  cross  between  John 

Knox  and  a  gypsy  explain  many  things  ?)   Principal 

106 


MANNERING  "MEG  MERRILIES" 

Lee  and  Principal  Story  were  both  the  offspring  of 
gypsy  ancestry, the  one  of  pure  Herefordshire  stock,the 
other  of  a  family  connected  with  Jean  Gordon's  village 
of  Yetholm.  Dr.  Robert  Gordon,  a  distinguished  di- 
vine of  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  belonged  to  that 
same  sept .  It  has  been  alleged  that  there  was  a  gypsy 
strain  in  Sir  Walter  himself,  through  the  Rutherf ords, 
a  gypsy  name  at  all  events.  May  that  not  account  for 
his  familiarity  with  the  breed  ?  Scott,  like  George 
Borrow,  was  the  gypsies'  friend.  He  allowed  them 
considerable  latitude  about  Abbotsford.  The  descrip- 
tion of  the  gypsy  camp  in  Crabbe's  Tales,  which  is 
absolutely  perfect  both  in  its  moral  and  physical  ex- 
pression, might  have  been  fully  realised  many  a  sum- 
mer's day  and  night  on  Tweedside  within  sight  of  the 
smoke  of  Sir  Walter's  home.  Not  seldom  had  he  to 
do  his  duty  when  members  of  the  fraternity  appeared 
before  him  in  a  judicial  capacity ;  that  never  interfered 
with  his  numerous  kindly  acts  to  the  nomads.  One  of 
the  few  things  Tom  Purdie  could  never  "  thole  "  was 
Scott's  partiality  for  gypsy  camp-fires  and  caravans, 
and  his  fondness  for  gypsy  children.  "  If  folk  but  ken- 
ned ^.em  as  I  ken  them,"  he  said,  "  there  would  be  less 
trock  wi'  sic  a  crew."  But  Scott  was  much  too  roman- 
tic a  person  not  to  have  his  imagination  quickened  in 
presence  of  this  curious  and  speculative  people.  Their 
exclusion  from  the  Waverley  Gallery  would  have 
been  a  lamentable  omission.  Scott  lived  at  a  time 
when  the  gypsy  fortunes  were  beginning  to  wane.    A 

Meg  Merrilies  would  be  an  impossible  creation  nowa- 
107 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS  GUY 

days.  For  the  gypsy  qua  gypsy  is  an  almost  vanished 
quantity.  Police  Acts,  with  the  County  Councils  and 
School  Boards,  have  been  quietly  metamorphosing 
him,  and  within  a  few  years  he  will  be  undistinguish- 
able  from  the  rest  of  the  community. 

Jean  Gordon,  undoubted  prototype  of  Meg  Mer- 
rilies,* greatest  of  gypsy  blood  in  the  realm  of  fiction, 
was  born  at  Kirk-Yetholm  about  the  year  1670.  In 
her  teens  she  wedded  a  Faa  and  had  a  numerous 
progeny.  All  her  sons,  with  one  exception,  are  said 
to  have  perished  at  the  hands  of  the  hangman.  Her 
husband,  Patrick  (not  George)  Faa,  was  banished  to 
the  American  Plantations  for  the  crime  of  fire-raising, 
and  in  the  same  year  the  son  who  was  not  hanged 
was  murdered  at  Huntlywood,  near  Earlston,  by  a 
neighbour  gypsy,  Rob  Johnstone.  Whilst  a  candidate 
for  the  gallows,  Johnstone  contrived  to  escape  from 
Jeddart  Gaol,  and  not  for  twelve  months  was  he  cap- 
tured and  brought  back  to  undergo  the  death  sentence, 
28th  August  1728.  The  story  that  Jean  hunted  him 
to  Holland  is  apocryphal.  It  does  not  appear  that  she 
had  any  hand  in  the  affair.  Jean's  own  career  alter- 
nated between  acts  honest  and  dishonest.     Like  the 

*  It  is  unnecessary  to  discuss  the  claim  made  for  Flora  Marshall, 
the  Galloway  gypsy,  to  be  Meg's  Original.  Here  are  Scott's  own 
words  on  the  matter  :  "I  cannot  grant  that  the  idea  of  Meg 
Merrilies  was,  in  the  first  concoction  of  the  character,  derived 
from  Flora  Marshall,  seeing  I  have  already  said  she  was  identified 
with  Jean  Gordon.  But  I  am  quite  content  that  Meg  should  be 
considered  as  a  representative  of  her  sect  and  class  in  general, 
Flora  as  well  as  others."  Mrs.  Carlyle  thought  that  Margaret 
Euston,  wife  of  Matthew  Baillie,  might  stand  for  the  Original  of 
Meg  Merrilies. 

108 


MANNERING  "MEG  MERRILIES" 

foxes,  she  studied  to  keep  her  own  hole  clean,  and  she 
carefully  refrained  herself ,  and  sought  t  o  prevent  others 
from  committing  depredations  on  those  who  showed 
hospitality.  But  her  children  were  not  of  the  same 
virtuous  kidney,  and  Jean  was  frequently  mortified  at 
their  ungrateful  behaviour.  Three  of  the  sons  with 
their  wives  were  convicted  of  sheep-stealing  at  Jed- 
burgh, in  May  1730,  and  all  of  them  went  to  the 
scaffold.  This  is  the  trial  mentioned  in  the  Intro- 
duction to  Guy  Mannering.  The  jury  were  said  to  be 
divided,  but  one  of  their  number  who  had  slept  during 
the  discussion,  suddenly  awoke  and  gave  his  vote  for 
condemnation  in  the  emphatic  words,  "  Hang  them 
a'."  Jean  herself  got  into  trouble  more  than  once  after 
that.  At  the  Jedburgh  Circuit  of  1732  she  presented  a 
petition"  setting  forth  that  she  had  been  indicted  as 
an  Egyptian  and  common  vagabond,  that  she  was 
old  and  infirm,  and  was  willing  to  quit  Scotland  en- 
tirely. "  Her  Grace,"  says  Baron  Hume,  who  reports 
thecase,  "was  banished  accordingly,  with  certification 
of  imprisonment  and  scourging  should  she  return." 
The  English  Border  now  became  her  favourite  haunt. 
It  was  there  that  the  adventure  happened  which  is 
also  narrated  in  the  Introduction  to  the  novel,  and 
has  its  counterpart  in  Brown's  indebtedness  to  Meg 
Merrilies  for  shelter  and  protection  in  the  den  at  Dern- 
cleugh  (chap,  xxvii.) .  The  story  is  to  this  effect . — The 
tenant  of  Lochside  (Robin  Oliver),  who  had  often 
shown  kindness  to  Jean  during  her  Yetholm  days,  but 

who  had  not  seen  her  for  years,  was  returning  from 
109 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS  GUY 

Newcastle  with  the  money  for  his  rent  in  his  pocket. 
He  was  in  danger  of  being  benighted  amongst  the 
Cheviots  on  the  road  leading  over  Shiell  Moor  to  the 
head  of  Bowmont  Water.  A  light  glimmering  through 
the  window  of  a  barn  that  had  survived  the  steading 
to  which  it  once  belonged,  guided  him  to  a  place  of 
shelter, and  whenheknocked  at  the  door  it  wasopened 
by  Jean  Gordon.  Jean  set  up  a  shout  of  joyful  recog- 
nition, "  Eh,  sirs !  the  winsome  gudeman  of  Lochside ! 
Light  down,  light  down  ;  for  ye  maunna  gang  farther 
the  night,  and  a  friend's  house  sae  near."  Oliver  was 
obliged  to  dismount,  and  accept  the  gypsy's  offer  of 
supper  andabed.  No  sooner  had  he  enteredthelonely 
dwelling  than  Jean  stalled  his  horse  in  a  dark  corner, 
and  set  about  providing  him  with  a  plentiful  repast. 
She  then  inquired  what  cash  he  had  about  him,  and 
made  earnest  entreaty  to  take  charge  of  it  overnight. 
He  complied,  keeping  back  a  few  shillings  in  his  pocket 
to  avert  suspicion.  By  and  by  he  lay  down  for  the 
night.  Somelittletime  after,  thegang  with  whom  Jean 
had  taken  up  returned.  They  soon  discovered  the 
stranger's  presence,  and  demanded  who  and  what  he 
was.  "  E'en  the  winsome  gudeman  of  Lochside,  puir 
body,"  replied  Jean.  "He  has  been  at  Newcastle  seek- 
ing siller  to  pay  his  rent, honest  man,but  deil-be-licket 
he's  been  able  to  gather  in,  and  sae  he's  gaun  hame 
wi'  a  toom  purse  and  a  sair  heart."  "  That  may  be, 
Jean, "replied  one  of  the  banditti,  "but  we  maun  ripe 
his  pouches  a  bit,  and  see  if  the  tale  be  true  or  not." 

Jean  set  up  her  throat  against  this  breach  of  hospital- 
no 


MANNERING  "MEG  MERRIL1ES" 

ity.  Oliver  heard  their  stifled  whispers  and  light  steps 
by  his  bedside,  and  knew  they  were  rummaging  his 
clothes.  When  they  found  the  money  which  Jean's 
foresight  had  made  him  retain,  they  held  a  consulta- 
tion if  they  should  take  it  or  not,  but  the  smallness  of 
thebooty,andthe  vehemence  of  Jean's  remonstrances, 
determined  them  in  the  negative.  They  caroused 
and  went  to  rest.  As  soon  as  day  dawned,  Jean  waked 
her  guest,  produced  his  horse, and  guided  himfor  some 
miles  till  he  was  on  the  high-road  to  Lochside.  She 
thenrestoredhis  whole  property ;  nor  could  his  earnest 
entreaties  prevail  on  her  to  accept  so  much  as  a  single 
guinea.  Meg's  words  to  Brown  on  the  morning  of  his 
departure  after  Kennedy's  death  were  almost  cer- 
tainly suggested  by  this  incident  :  "  Many's  the 
awmous  your  house  has  gi'en  Meg  and  hers  :  and  she 
has  lived  to  pay  it  back  in  a  small  degree,"  and  she 
placed  the  purse  in  his  hand. 

Scott  would  get  his  first  impression  of  the  gypsy 
character whenatSandyknowe.  IntheSmailholmdis- 
trict  thegypsieshad  several  favourite  camping-places, 
Sandyknowe  itself  being  one.  Not  far  off  were  the 
famous  Mellerstain  Entries  (in  Earlston  parish),  one 
of  the  most  delightful  old  country  lanes  in  the 
Border — little  frequented,  splendidly  sheltered  by 
overhanging  woods,  with  fountains  of  pure  water  at 
hand,  on  its  wide  and  grassy  sides  abundance  of  the 
richest  and  choicest  herbage,  a  ready  store  of  fuel  for 
the  gathering,  game  galore,  and  everywhere  nooks 

cosy  and  inviting.  Scott,  as  boy  and  man,  was  often 
in 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS  GUY 

at  Mellerstain,  and  may  have  seen  as  many  as  sixty 
carts  "lowsed"  there  at  one  time ;  but  indeed  almost 
anywhere  between  Yetholm  and  Earlston  companies 
of  gypsies  might  be  encountered  any  day  or  night 
from  Whitsunday  to  Michaelmas. 

It  was  Scott's  grandfather  who  had  the  Charter- 
house Moor  experience  mentioned  in  the  Introduction 
to  Guy  Mannering.  Riding  home  one  night,  Robert 
Scott  fell  among  a  band  of  gypsies  whowere  carousing 
in  a  hollow  of  the  moor  surrounded  by  bushes.  They 
instantly  seized  his  horse's  bridle  with  many  shouts 
of  welcome,  exclaiming  that  as  they  had  often  dined 
at  his  expense  he  must  now  stay  and  share  their  good 
cheer.  "  My  ancestor,"  says  Scott,  "  was  a  little 
alarmed,  for,  like  the  gudeman  of  Lochside,  he  had 
more  money  about  his  person  than  he  cared  to  risk 
in  such  society.  However,  being  naturally  a  bold, 
lively-spirited  man,  he  entered  into  the  humour  of 
the  thing,  and  sat  down  to  the  feast,  which  consisted 
of  all  the  varieties  of  game,  poultry,  pigs,  and  so  forth, 
that  could  be  collected  by  a  wide  and  indiscriminate 
system  of  plunder.  The  dinner  was  a  very  merry 
one  ;  but  my  relative  got  a  hint  from  some  of  the 
older  gypsies  to  retire  just  when  the  mirth  and  fun 
grew  fast  and  furious ;  and,  mounting  his  horse  ac- 
cordingly, he  took  French  leave  of  his  entertainers, 
but  without  experiencing  the  least  breach  of  hos- 
pitality. I  believe,"  adds  Sir  Walter,  "Jean  Gordon 
was  at  this  festival."    That,  however,  is  unlikely. 

Jean  would  be  dead  long  before.    It  was  probably 

112 


MANNERING  "MEG  MERRILIES" 

her  granddaughter,  Madge  Gordon  (no  doubt  incor- 
porated in  Scott's  picture  of  Meg),  who  formed  the 
conspicuous  figure  of  the  party.    Scott  encountered 
Madge  at  least  once  during  his  boyhood,  and  never 
forgot  the  impression.    "  My  memory  is  haunted  by 
a  solemn  remembrance  of  a  woman  of  more  than 
female  height,  dressed  in  a  long  red  cloak,  who  com- 
menced acquaintance  by  giving  me  an  apple,  but 
whom,  nevertheless,  I  looked  on  with  much  awe.    I 
conceive  this  woman  to  have  been  Madge  Gordon." 
Madge  (or  Meg)  Gordon,  who  married  a  Young,  was 
the  facsimile  of  her  grandmother.    She  was  a  remark- 
able personage  of  a  very  commanding  presence  and 
stature,  being  nearly  six  feet  high.    She  had  a  large 
aquiline  nose,  penetrating  eyes,  even  in  her  old  age, 
bushy  hair  that  hung  around  her  shoulders  from  be- 
neath a  gypsy  bonnet  of  straw,  a  short  cloak  of  a 
peculiar  fashion,  and  a  long  staff  nearly  as  tall  as 
herself.    When  she  spoke  vehemently  (for  she  made 
loud  complaints),  she  used  to  strike  her  staff  upon 
the  floor  and  throw  herself  into  an  attitude  which 
it  was  impossible  to  regard  with  indifference.    She 
used  to  say  that  she  could  bring  from  the  remotest 
parts  of  the  island  friends  to  avenge  her  quarrel,  while 
she  stayed  motionless  in  her  cottage  ;  and  she  fre- 
quently boasted  that  there  was  a  time  when  she  was 
of  still  more  considerable  importance,  for  there  were 
at  her  wedding  fifty  saddled  asses,  and  unsaddled 
asses  without  number. 

Jean  Gordon's  last  years  were  spent  in  begging 
113  h 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS  GUY 

from  door  to  door.     But  the  old  spirit  was  upper- 
most, despite  age  and  frailty.    She  chanced  to  be  at 
Carlisle  soon  after  the  Forty-five.    On  going  up  Rick- 
ergate,  Jean  spied  the  heads  of  some  of  the  rebels 
upon  the  top  of  the  Scotchgate.    Being  a  staunch 
Jacobite,  she  gave  loud  vent  to  her  political  partiality 
in  such  unmeasured  terms  of  contempt  for  the  House 
of  Hanover  and  loyalty  to  that  of  Stuart  that  the 
rabble  of  the  city,  as  zealous  in  their  attachment  to 
the  king  de  facto,  when  there  was  no  longer  any  dan- 
ger from  the  wild  Highlanders,  as  they  had  been 
pusillanimous  the  year  before,  when  they  tamely  sur- 
rendered to  Prince  Charlie,  inflicted  upon  the  aged 
woman  no  slighter  penalty  than  that  of  ducking  her 
to  death  in  the  Eden.    It  happened  to  be  a  Fair  Day, 
and  the  town  was  crowded.  Jean,  with  characteristic 
bravado,  moved  boldly  through  the  throng  singing 
with  broken  voice  : 

"  To  wanton  me,  to  wanton  me, 
Ken  ye  what  maist  wad  wanton  me  ! 
To  see  King  George  hung  up  at  Rome, 
I  To  see  King  Jamie  croon'd  at  Scone, 

To  see  England  taxed  and  Scotland  free  : 
This  is  what  maist  wad  wanton  me. 

But  to  daunton  me,  to  daunton  me, 
This  is  what  sail-  does  daunton  me, 
To  see  an  ill-faur'd  German  loon 
Keep  wrangfu'  haud  o'  Scotland's  croon, 
And  a'  laid  low  that  high  should  be  : 
This  is  what  sair  doth  daunton  me." 

Rascaldom  gathered  thick  about  her,  and  the  poor 
old  gypsy,  without  a  friend  either  to  support  or  rescue 
her,  was  mercilessly  pelted  with  mud  and  stones. 

114 


MANNERING  "MEG  MERRILIES" 

Those  who  came  within  1  ler  grasp,  indeed,  paid  for  their 
forwardness,  for  Jean  was  a  stout  woman  still,  and 
not  easily  "  daunt ered."  But  her  assailants  succeeded 
in  dragging  her  down  the  street  and  plunged  herhead- 
long  into  the  river.  As  often  as  she  got  her  head 
above  water,  she  shouted,  "  Up  wi'  Chairlie  yet  !  ' 
and  as  long  as  she  had  voice  left,  she  continued  to 
exclaim,  "  Chairlie  yet  !  Chairlie  yet !  "  till  she  was 
left  to  her  fate.  Strange  to  say,  she  managed  to  crawl 
to  the  side  and  take  shelter  under  a  hedge,  where  next 
morning  she  was  found  dead,  exhaustion  and  exposure 
having  brought  about  her  end.*  What  purports  to 
be  her  grave  at  Denton  among  the  Cumberland  Hills 
is  not  the  grave  of  Meg  Merrilies,  but  of  Meg  Carrick, 
Tib  Mumps,  the  Mump's  Ha'  landlady.  Meg  Merri- 
lies's  last  resting-place  is  unknown. 

*  Such  is  the  Carlisle  tradition.  Scott,  it  will  be  remembered, 
makes  Madge  Wildfire  meet  her  doom  in  this  fashion,  though 
Madge  lived  a  few  hours  after  her  ducking,  and  died  in  a  hospital. 


CHAPTER    SEVEN 

THE  ANTIOUARY 
"JONATHAN  OLDBUCK" 


No  shop  is  so  easily  set  up  as  an  antiquary's." 

Scott. 


CHAPTER  SEVEN  THE  ANTI- 

QUARY      "JONATHAN  OLDBUCK" 

ONTHE22ND  DECEMBER  1815  WE  HAVESCOTT 
writing  to  his  friend  Morritt  of  Rokeby,  "  My  literary 
occupation  is  getting  through  the  press  the  Letters  of 
Paul,  of  whose  lucubrations  I  trust  soon  to  send  you 
a  copy."  Exactly  a  week  later  James  Ballantyne  is 
informed  in  playful  doggerel  that  the  book  is  finished  : 

"  Dear  James — I'm  done,  thank  God,  with  the  long  yarns 
Of  the  most  prosy  of  Apostles — Paul  ; 
And  now  advance,  sweet  Heathen  of  Monkbarns  ! 
Step  out,  old  quizz,  as  fast  as  I  can  scrawl." 

The  Antiquary  had  been  bargained  for  some  while 
previously.  At  that  time  there  was  only  "  a  very  gen- 
eral sketch  "  before  the  writer,  but  "  when  once  I  get 
my  pen  to  paper  it  will  walk  fast  enough. ' '  Obviously 
more  pains  were  taken  with  this  novel  than  with  its 
predecessors,  that  is,  if  by  "  a  general  sketch  "  we  are 
to  understand  that  Scott  first  outlined  the  narrative, 
which  is  quite  likely.  Elsewhere  he  says  that  usually 
he  had  written  into  the  middle  of  one  of  the  novels 
without  having  the  least  idea  how  it  was  to  end — 
the  hob  nab  at  a  venture  style  of  composition.  One 
can  scarcely  imagine  The  Antiquary  being  so  con- 
structed. Scott  must  have  known  his  plot  from  the 
beginning,  and  how  certain  characters  introduced 
early  on  the  scene  were  to  turn  out  as  they  did  in  the 
course  of  the  story. 

The  novel  made  its  appearance  in  May  1826,  and 

sold  at  the  rate  of  a  thousand  a  day  for  the  first  week. 

In  the  Preface  the  unknown  author  announced  that  it 
119 


THE    SCOTT   ORIGINALS  THE 

completed  a  series  of  fictitious  narratives  intended 
to  illustrate  the  manners  of  Scotland  at  three  different 
periods  :  Waverley  embraced  the  age  of  our  fathers  ; 
Guy  Mannering  that  of  our  youth  ;  The  Antiquary 
refers  to  the  last  ten  years  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
The  tale  keeps  to  familiar  ground  throughout.  We 
never  get  far  away  from  Fairport  (Arbroath).*  Like 
its  predecessors,  its  delineation  of  Scottish  life  leaves 
nothing  to  be  desired.  Without  the  romantic  associa- 
tions of  Waverley  or  the  adventurous  element  which 
is  so  conspicuous  a  figure  in  Guy  Mannering,  there 
are  scenes  and  characters  in  The  Antiquary  in  which 
it  surpasses  both  these  productions.  And  if  less  ex- 
citing than  the  others  it  cannot  be  said  to  be  less 
pleasing  or  less  fascinating.  Lovel  and  his  lady,  Miss 
Wardour,  the  nominal  hero  and  heroine,  are  a  colour- 
less pair.  As  Pope  would  say,  they  have  "  no  char- 
acter at  all."  Scott  has  apparently  little  interest  in 
them,  and  they  play  only  a  secondary  part  in  the 
story.  It  is  the  sturdy-looking  Antiquary  and  the  rag- 
ged, boisterous  bedesman,  Edie  Ochiltree,  who  are  the 
principal  personages  here.  Probably  in  none  of  his 
other  characters  has  Scott  drawn  so  literally  from  in- 
dividuals of  real  life  as  in  these  two  instances.  Some 
of  the  incidents  are  dramatic  enough  :  the  Wardours' 
escape  from  the  rising  tide ;  the  confession  of  the 
mad  crone  Elspeth   of  the  Burnfoot ;    the  funeral 

*  There  is  no  warrant  for  identifying  Fairport  with  Portobello 
or  Mussel-Crag  with  Musselburgh.  The  locale  is  clearly  north  of 
the  Forth,  the  Arbroath  coast  offering  perhaps  as  good  a  likeness 
as  any  to  the  scenery  depicted. 

1 20 


ANTIQUARY      «  JONATHAN  OLDBUCK  " 

scene  in  Mucklebackit's  cottage,  and  the  recognition 
of  Lovel  by  his  father.  Sir  Arthur  Wardour  (said  to 
be  modelled  from  Sir  John  Whitefoord,  Bart.)  is  an 
eminently  silly  type  of  aristocrat — a  foolish  old  Tory 
with  whom  we  lose  all  patience.  Dousterswivel,*  the 
German  quack,  is  clever  in  a  way,  but  his  humour  is 
too  much  forced.  The  most  genuinely  diverting  epi- 
sode in  the  novel,  apart  from  the  exposure  of  Monk- 
barns's  foibles,  is  the  village  post-office  scene. 

Of  all  the  Waverleys  there  are  few  in  which  Scott's 
benevolent  and  kindly  sympathy  for  the  toiling  poor 
is  more  marked  than  in  the  case  of  The  Antiquary. 
Take,  for  example,  Maggie  Mucklebackit's  unanswer- 
able retort  to  Monkbarns  when  the  latter,  in  reproof 
of  her  attachment  to  an  occasional  dram,  hopes  that 

*  Scott  admits  that  part  of  the  narrative  relating  to  Douster- 
swivel was  founded  on  actual  fact,  an  Earl  of  Traquair  being  simi- 
larly imposed  upon  by  a  foreigner  who  wanted  to  open  up  lead 
mines,  as  he  alleged,  at  Bold,  on  the  Tweed,  below  Walkerburn. 
Robert  Chambers  points  out  an  Original  in  the  person  of  Peter 
Stranger,  or  Japhet  Crook,  who  lived  in  the  reigns  of  Queen  Anne 
and  George  I.  This  consummate  knave  has  been  condemned  to  an 
infamous  immortality  by  Pope,  who,  in  his  Third  Moral  Essay, 
speaking  on  the  value  of  riches,  asks  : 

"  What  can  they  give  ?  to  dying  Hopkins,  heirs  ? 
To  Chartres,  vigour  ?  Japhet,  nose  and  ears  ?  " 

This  in  allusion  to  the  latter  having  suffered  personal  mutilation 
for  practising  an  infamous  fraud  on  an  unsuspicious  old  gentleman, 
by  which  the  latter  was  induced  to  execute  a  will  in  his  favour  to 
the  exclusion  of  his  natural  heirs.  Japhet  is  said  to  have  migrat- 
ed into  Eskdale  and  by  trickery  similar  to  that  of  Dousterswivel, 
induced  the  Duke  of  Buccleuch  to  enter  into  some  large  and  ruin- 
ous mining  operations.  The  "  Glenwithershins,"  where  these 
operations  were  conducted,  was  a  place  near  Gilnockie — Johnie 
Armstrong's  Tower. 
121 


THE    SCOTT   ORIGINALS  THE 

the  distilleries  will  never  be  permitted  to  work  again  : 
"  Ay,  ay,  it's  easy  for  your  honour  and  the  like  o' 
you  gentlefolks  to  say  sae.that  ha'e  stouth  and  routh, 
and  fire  and  fending,  and  meat  and  claes,  and  sit  dry 
and  canny  by  the  fireside  ;  but  an  ye  wanted  fire  and 
meat  and  claes,  and  were  deeing  o'  cauld,  and  had  a 
sair  heart,  whilk  is  warst  o'  a',  wi'  just  tippence  in 
your  pouch,  wadna  ye  be  glad  to  buy  a  dram  wi't,  to 
be  eilding  and  claes,  and  a  supper  and  heart's  ease 
into  the  bargain,  till  the  morn's  morning  ?  "  Or  this 
when  the  Antiquary,  returning  from  laying  Steenie's 
head  in  the  grave,  finds  the  gruff  old  father  vainly  en- 
deavouring to  repair  the  "  auld  black  bitch  o'  a  boat  " 
which  had  swamped  with  its  crew,  and  congratu- 
lates him  upon  being  able  to  make  such  exertion  after 
so  great  a  deprivation  :  "  And  what  would  you  have 
me  to  do,"  answered  the  almost  desperate  old  man, 
"  unless  I  wanted  four  children  to  starve  because  ane 
is  drowned  ?  It's  weel  wi'  you  gentles,  that  sit  in  the 
house  wi'  handkerchers  at  your  een  when  ye  lose  a 
friend  ;  but  the  like  o'  us  maun  to  our  wark  again,  if 
our  hearts  were  beating  as  hard  as  my  hammer." 

The  whole  tone  of  the  novel  is  redolent  of  what 
may  be  termed  popular  feeling.  Curious  to  find 
Scott  a  whole-hearted  and  willing  democrat  here. 
He  puts  into  the  mouth  of  Oldbuck  expressions 
which  are  the  antithesis  of  his  own  political  creed. 
He  is  in  sympathy  with  reform  of  every  kind.  The 
French  Revolution  he  likens  to  a  "  storm  or  hurri- 
cane, which,  passing  over  a  region,  does  great  damage 

122 


ff 


ms 


0113 

id 


ANTIQUARY      «  JONATHAN  OLDBUCK  " 

in  its  passage,  yet  sweeps  away  stagnant  and  un- 
wholesome vapours,  and  repays,  in  future  health 
and  fertility,  its  immediate  desolation  and  ravage." 
Above  all,  it  is  by  his  profound  interest  in  the  fortunes 
(or  the  misfortunes)  of  the  labouring  poor  that  the 
novelist  reaches  high-water  mark  and  binds  himself 
to  the  great  heart  of  the  people. 

II 

As  to  the  Original  of  the  Antiquary  of  Monkbarns 
there  is  no  dispute.  Scott  informs  us  he  was  "  George 
Constable,  an  old  friend  of  my  father's,  educated 
to  the  law,  but  retired  upon  his  independent  pro- 
perty and  generally  residing  near  Dundee.  He  had 
many  of  those  peculiarities  of  temperwhichlong  after- 
wards I  tried  to  develop  in  the  character  of  Jonathan 
Oldbuck." 

It  was  at  Prestonpans,  in  the  year  1777,  in  his 
delicate  boyhood,  that  Scott  made  the  acquaintance 
of  the  future  prototype.  Constable  was  greatly  in- 
timate with  the  family  of  the  Scotts  in  Edinburgh, 
but  young  Walter  was  mostly  at  Sandy knowe  in 
those  days.  They  never  met  in  the  George  Square 
house  until  after  his  return  from  the  Border.  As 
appears  from  the  Ashestiel  fragment,  Constable  was 
not  so  decided  an  enemy  to  womankind  as  his  re- 
presentative Monkbarns.  On  the  contrary,  Scott  was 
sure  that  his  Prestonpans  friend  exhibited  rather 

a  soft   side — a  tendresse — towards  "  his  kind  and 
123 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS  THE 

affectionate  Aunt  Jenny,"  who  even  then  was  a  most 
beautiful  woman,  though  somewhat  advanced  in  life. 
Constable  was  bordering  on  sixty  at  the  time,  and 
Janet  Scott  must  have  been  over  fifty.  But  nothing 
came  of  the  "  constant  philandering  "  which  even  a 
child  of  six  had  wit  enough  to  recognise.  Constable 
continued  hisbachelorhood.and  Scott's  aunt  was  Miss 
Janet  to  the  end  of  her  days.  She  survived  Constable 
little  more  than  a  year.  Of  the  Prestonpans  visit  Scott 
had  some  pleasant  recollections.  It  was  to  Constable 
thatheowedhis  introduction  toShakespeare — tosuch 
characters  as  Falstaff  and  Hotspur.  At  a  later  period 
Constable  and  he  were  often  in  each  other's  company, 
afondness  for  antiquarian  pursuits  being  the  bondbe- 
tweenthem.  Indeed,  Lockhart  states  that  it  was  Con- 
stable's leanings  in  this  direction  which  inspired  Scott 
with  a  similar  liking  (was  not  the  inspiration  from 
another  source  ?)  Constable  spent  many  of  his  Edin- 
burgh Sundays  with  the  Scotts — ever  a  welcome 
break  in  the  austerity  of  the  day  to  the  younger  gener- 
ation, who  coaxed  Constable  to  turn  the  conversation 
from  its  severely  Calvinistic  tone  to  subjects  of  history 
and  auld  lang  syne.  He  remembered  the  Forty-five 
and  told  many  excellent  stories,  all  with  a  strong  dash 
of  peculiar  caustic  humour.  Constable  presented  Scott 
with  Adelung's  Dictionary  at  the  commencement  of 
his  German  studies,  "  and  in  other  ways,"  adds  Scott, 
"  he  was  very  kind  to  me."  The  tale  of  The  Two  Drov- 
ers was  derived  from  the  old  lawyer,  who  was  present 

at  the  trial.  Constable,  however,  had  gone  the  way  of 

124 


ANTIQUARY      "  JONATHAN  OLDBUCK  " 

all  the  earth  before  the  Waverleys  burst  on  the  aston- 
ished world. 

The  name  Constable,  imported  from  Yorkshire,  is 
still  common  to  the  counties  of  Fife  and  Forfar,  and 
some  parts  of  Perthshire.  In  the  Burgess  Roll  of  Dun- 
dee (preserved  in  the  City  Charters)  it  is  found  as  early 
as  1563,  and  appears  frequently  up  to  1800.  Burgesses 
of  the  name  were  engaged  principally  as  brewers,  as 
fleshers,  and  masons. 

George  Constable,  the  Antiquary,  was  the  son 
of  John  Constable,  "trader  in  Dundee,"  and  his 
mother  was  Barbara  Kirkcaldy.  The  father  died 
23rd  April  1773,  leaving  two  sons  and  five  daugh- 
ters. Of  George  the  elder  (in  the  novel  Monk- 
barns  is  a  younger  son),  born  in  1719,  there  is  little 
or  no  information  as  to  his  earlier  life.  He  became 
a  solicitor,  and  practised  in  Edinburgh  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  with  considerable  success.  In  1789 
the  lands  of  Wallace-Craigie,  a  small  property  on 
the  outskirts  of  Dundee,  came  into  the  market,  and 
fell  to  the  Edinburgh  lawyer's  bid  for  the  price  of 
£2170.  The  mansion,  which  was  little  better  than  a 
farmhouse,  has  long  since  disappeared  in  the  marvel- 
lous growth  of  the  jute  city  within  the  last  half-cen- 
tury. The  estate  itself  has  been  completely  built  over, 
and  the  annual  feu-rental  is  very  much  in  excess  of 
the  original  purchase-money.  Wallace-Craigie  stood 
about  the  position  of  the  present  Middle  Street.  It 
is  curious  to  think  of  this  as  the  place  where  Scott 

forgathered   with   the  inimitable  Monkbarns,   and 
125 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS  THE 

became  acquainted  with  the  scenes  depicted  in  The 
Antiquary.    Wallace-Craigie  could  only  have  repre- 
sented the  house  of  Monkbarns  in  a  general  way — 
as  true  to  Monkbarns  as  its  owner  himself  approxi- 
mated to  Jonathan  Oldbuck,  for  here  again  it  was 
the  character  of  the  Antiquary  and  not  his  actual 
surroundings  which  claimed  the  author's  attention 
in  presenting  to  the  world  a  figure  so  wholly  ad- 
mirable and  so  welcome.  That  the  laird  of  Wallace- 
Craigie  should  be  recognised  (as  he  was  by  George 
Chalmers,  a  friend  of  Scott's  father  and  Constable)  in 
the  livery  of  Oldbuck  was  a  matter  of  astonishment 
to  Scott.  "  I  thought,"  he  says,  "  I  had  so  completely 
disguised  the  likeness  that  it  could  not  be  recognised 
by  any  one  now  alive,"  and  then  he  goes  on  to  explain 
that  "  there  is  not  a  single  incident  in  the  novel  which 
is  borrowed  from  his  real  circumstances  except  the 
fact  that  he  resided  in  an  old  house  near  a  flourishing 
seaport,  and  that  the  Author  chanced  to  witness  a 
scene  betwixt  him  and  the  female  proprietor  of  a  stage 
coach,  very  similar  to  that  which  commences  the  his- 
tory of  The  Antiquary.    An  excellent  temper,  with  a 
slight  degree  of  subacid  humour ;  learning,  wit,  and 
drollery ,  the  more  piquant  that  they  were  a  little  mark- 
ed by  the  peculiarities  of  an  old  bachelor ;  a  soundness 
of  thought  rendered  more  forcible  by  an  occasional 
quaintness  of  expression,  were,  the  Author  avers,  the 
only  qualities  in  which  the  creature  of  his  imagination 
resembled  his  benevolent  and  excellent  old  friend." 

But  to  those  who  knew  of  the  pilgrimages  to  Wal- 

126 


ANTIQUARY      «  JONATHAN  OLDBUCK  " 

lace-Craigie,  as  well  as  the  foibles  of  its  master,  the 
identification  was  not  so  difficult.  Constable  died  at 
Wallace-Craigie  on  13th  April  1803,  in  his  84th  year. 
The  Original  of  the  Antiquary's  "  most  discreet  sister 
Griselda,  who  disdains  the  simplicity,  as  well  as 
patience,  annexed  to  the  poor  old  name  of  Grizel," 
is  held  to  be  Constable's  sister,  Matilda.  George,  son 
of  David  Constable,  brother  of  the  Antiquary,  a 
Colonel  in  the  Bengal  Artillery,  was  the  prototype  of 
the  hot-headed  Captain  Hector  M'Intyre. 

Additional  to  his  friend  Constable,  Scott,  in  com- 
posing the  portrait  of  Monkbarns,  was  perhaps  think- 
ing of  John  Ramsay  of  Ochtertyre.  On  a  High 
land  excursion  in  1793  Scott  visited  Ochtertyre  and 
made  acquaintance  with  Ramsay,  which  continued 
till  the  death  of  the  latter  in  the  year  when  Waverley 
was  published.  A  copy  of  the  Burger  Ballads  was 
sent  to  Ochtertyre  in  1796,  and  Lockhart  prints  Ram- 
say's letter  acknowledging  the  gift  and  commending 
the  translations.  Ramsay  was  an  enthusiastic  anti- 
quary, and  was  the  means  of  recovering  many  pre- 
historic and  Roman  remains,  and  other  antiquities, 
in  his  neighbourhood.  For  Scottish  traditions  and 
memories  of  the  Forty-five  there  were  few  better  au- 
thorities, and  to  him  Scott  was,  no  doubt,  indebted 
for  more  than  one  incident  in  the  sturm  und  drang  of 
the  romances. 

Dr.  George  Gleig  (a  Scott  biographer),  who  knew 

Ramsay   intimately,   says   that   Ramsay   certainly 

stood  with  Constable  as  the  model  from  which  the 
127 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS  THE 

character  of  Oldbuck  was  painted.  '  When  I  knew 
him  he  was  an  old  man,  and  having  lived  as  he 
died,  a  bachelor,  he  had  fallen  with  living  alone 
into  slovenly  habits.  When  receiving  company  his 
appointments  were  those  of  a  gentleman  of  the  old 
school — coat,  usually  blue,  with  bright  metal  buttons, 
a  high  collar,  and  lace  frills  at  the  wrist.  I  think  he 
wore  the  hair  powdered  but  I  amnotquitesure, though 
of  his  carefully-tied  queue  I  have  a  clear  remem- 
brance ;  breeches  and  blue  stockings  with  silver 
buckles  on  his  shoeswere  also  worn  on  these  occasions. 
At  other  times  his  legs  would  be  encased  in  worsted 
stockings  to  which  it  appeared  as  though  he  some- 
times forgot  to  append  garters.  ...  I  think  of  him  as 
a  man  of  middle  stature,  well  made,  and  with  an  intel- 
ligent expression  of  countenance."  * 

In  one  particular,  however,  Ramsay  differed  from 
the  Laird  of  Monkbarns :  he  was  not  the  woman-hater 
that  Oldbuck  was.  He  had,  indeed,  both  in  youth 
and  manhood  been  a  great  admirer  of  the  sex,  and 
so  much  "  of  the  old  Adam  remained  with  him  that 
he  used  to  exact  a  kiss  from  each  of  his  young  lady 
visitors,  for  which  he  rewarded  her  with  a  peach — his 
well-walled  and  sheltered  garden  being  renowned  for 
the  excellency  of  the  peaches  it  brought  tomaturity." 
Alexander  Gordon,  author  of  the  Itinerarium  Scp- 
tentrionale,  undoubtedly  furnished  Scott  with  some 
of  the  colouring  for  his  immortal  picture  of  Jonathan 

*  Introduction  to  Scotland  and  Scotsmen  in  the  Eighteenth  Cen- 
tury, ed.  by  Alexander  Allardyce. 

128 


ANTIQUARY     "  JONATHAN  OLDBUCK  " 

Oldbuck.  It  was  Gordon's  tome  which  Monkbarns 
had  with  him  on  the  journey  to  Hawes  Inn,  and  he 
always  professes  a  deep  respect  for  the  authority  of 
"  Sandy  Gordon."  Scott  has  transferred  some  pass- 
ages in  the  Itineraritim  to  the  pages  of  the  novel. 

But  Sir  Walter  himself,  in  some  important  respects 
and  in  spite  of  significant  differences,  was  his  own 
half-conscious  delineator  in  this  superlative  figure. 
Scott,  like  Ramsay,  was  not  averse  to  the  influence 
of  the  gentler  sex.  And  to  say  that  he  was  niggardly 
in  money  matters  was  the  last  fault  that  could  be 
charged  against  him.  At  the  same  time  it  cannot  but 
be  remembered  that  Scott's  early  love  disappointment 
did  beget  in  him  a  soreness  on  the  question  of  the 
relation  of  the  sexes  comparable  to  that  impatience 
of  the  "  eternal  woman  "  which,  in  the  fictitious  old 
bachelor,  originated  in  a  similar  misfortune.  And 
careless  and  lavish  as  Scott  was  in  the  disbursement 
of  large  amounts,  his  account  books  had  always  a 
column  for  his  turnpike  money.  Then  there  is  the 
ruling  passion  of  both  for  ballads.  Take  Elspeth's 
death-bed  scene :  Oldbuck  and  his  friends  come  to 
take  the  old  hag's  confession.  As  the  Antiquary  lifted 
the  latch  of  the  hut  Elspeth  is  heard  chanting  forth 
an  old  ballad  in  a  wild  and  doleful  recitative.  "  His 
foot  refused  to  cross  the  threshold  when  his  ear  was 
thus  arrested,  and  his  hand  in  stinctively  took  pen- 
cil and  memorandum-book." 

'"It's  a  historical  ballad,  '  said  Oldbuck  eagerly, 

'a  genuine  and  undoubted  fragment  of  minstrelsy  ! 
129  1 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS 

Percy  would  admire  its  simplicity — Ritson  could  not 

impugn  its  authenticity.  .  .  .' 

"'I  wish,'  he  said,  when  they  were  inside,  'she 

would  resume  that  canticle  or  legendary  fragment : 

I  always  suspected  there  was  a  skirmish  of  cavalry 

before  the  main  battle  of  the  Harlaw  !   Hush,  hush  ! 

she  has  gotten  the  thread  of  the  story  again,' — and  as 

he  spoke  she  sung  :  .  .  .' 

" '  Chafron ! '  exclaimed  the  Antiquary,  'the  word's 

worth  a  dollar,' — and  down  it  went  in  his  red  book." 
It  was  quite  in  keeping  with  Scott's  character  that 
he  should  poke  fun  at  Monkbarns's  foibles,  and  the 
ludicrous  mistakes  into  which  he  fell  (as  at  the  Kaim 
of  Kinprunes) — those  occasional  "  mares'-nests  into 
which  a  passion  for  antiquities  may  betray  even  the 
acutest  of  amateurs  ":  "  Monkbarns  is  no  that  owre 
wise  himsell,  in  some  things  :  he  wad  believe  a  bodle 
to  be  an  auld  Roman  coin,  as  he  ca's  it,  or  a  ditch  to 
be  a  camp,  upon  ony  leasing  that  idle  folk  made  about 
it.     I  hae  garr'd  him  trow  mony  a  queer  tale  my- 
sell,  Gude  forgie  me,"  says  Edie  Ochiltree,  admitting 
that  in  life's  ordinary  affairs  Oldbuck's  wisdom  could 
not  be  called  in  question. 


CHAPTER    EIGHT 


THE   ANTIQUARY 
EDIE   OCHILTREE 


O  heard  ye  o'  the  bauld  blue-gown, 

Auld  Edie  Ochiltree  ? 
Weel  kent  in  ilka  country  town, 

Auld  Edie  Ochiltree  ; 
When  beggars  o'  the  gangrel  corps 

Are  driven  frae  the  hallan  door, 
The  gudewife  cries,  '  Come  ye  in  owre, 

Auld  Edie  Ochiltree.'  " 

Contemporary  Ballad. 


CHAPTER  EIGHT  THE 

ANTIQUARY    "  EDIE  OCHILTREE" 

SCOTT'S  ACCOUNT  (INTRODUCTION  TO  THE 

novel)  of  the  Original  of  Edie  Ochiltree  was  borrowed 
from  his  own  observation  of  the  man  in  the  days 
of  his  Border  boyhood.     Edie's  archetype  was  too 
"  kenspeckle  "  a  figure  to  escape  the  attention  of  a 
schoolboy  or  even  to  be  forgotten  long  after  school- 
days were  over.    It  was  when  Scott  was  living  with 
his  aunt  at  Garden  Cottage,  Kelso,  when  he  was 
under  the  ferule  of  that  "  excellent  classical  scholar 
and  humorist  and  worthy  man,"  Lancelot  Whale, 
that  he  made  acquaintance  with  the  picturesque  and 
entertaining  old  worthy  whom  he  afterwards  immor- 
talised in  the  pages  of  The  Antiquary.    Scott  lived 
at  a  time  when  the  land  literally  swarmed  with  mem- 
bers of  the  order  of  mendicants,  and  in  the  country 
he  would  have  fuller  scope  than  in  the  town  for  a 
study  of  the  habits  and  ways  of  the  tribe.    The  law 
favoured  them  exceedingly.  No  disgrace  was  then  at- 
taching to  the  beggar's  profession,  and  the  Blue-gown 
class,  represented  by  Edie  Ochiltree,  was  under  ex- 
press sanction  of  the  State.    The  custom  of  legalising 
mendicity  was  a  very  old  one,  and  the  business  of  the 
mendicant  was  as  profitable  and  lucrative  as  it  was 
easy.     Thus  it  was  that  the  country  became  overrun 
by  a  race  of  strong  and  masterful  beggars — sorners — 
to  such  an  extent  that  an  Act  was  passed  permitting 
only  the  sick  and  impotent — those  who  were  unable  to 
earn  a  livelihood — to  beg,  and  it  was  enacted  that  they 
133 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS  THE 

should  receive  a  licence  for  that  purpose  in  the  shape 
of  a  badge.  By  and  by  the  begging  area  was  set  in 
limits,  whilst  an  Act,  passed  in  1583,  restricted  the 
soliciting  of  charity  to  the  mendicant 'sown  parish.  In 
1625,  and  again  in  1672,  the  Church,  by  a  series  of 
Acts,  was  brought  into  closer  touch  with  the  poor 
than  it  had  hitherto  been.  Ministers  and  elders  were 
enjoined  to  draw  up  lists  of  indigent  persons  with- 
in their  jurisdictions,  and  being  duly  badged  those 
were  given  so  many  miles  as  a  circuit  and  so  many 
days  in  the  week  in  which  to  ply  their  vocation. 
This  was  done  down  to  a  date  as  late  as  the  year  1824. 
The  order  of  Blue-gowns  was  originated  about  the 
close  of  the  fifteenth  century.  They  derived  their 
authority  direct  from  the  Sovereign,  and  the  pewter 
badge  which  they  wore  bore  the  royal  crown,  and 
the  words  "  Pass  and  Repass,"  giving  them  the  pri- 
vilege of  wandering  throughout  the  whole  of  Scot- 
land, instead  of  being  confined  to  a  particular  parish, 
or  town,  as  were  the  holders  of  purely  local  badges 
or  tokens.  Every  Maundy  Thursday  they  were 
given  a  fresh  outfit,  which  included  a  cloak,  or  gown 
of  coarse  cloth  of  light  blue  colour,  a  wooden  cup 
and  platter,  and  a  leathern  purse  containing  as  many 
shillings  Scots  as  there  were  years  in  the  king's  life. 
In  1832  there  were  sixty-eight  bedesmen  on  the 
roll,  though  Scott,  writing  in  1829,  said  that  few  of 
them  were  seen  on  the  streets  of  Edinburgh.  They 
preferred  the  country,  where  they  got  better  enter- 
tainment. The  privilege,  however,  came  to  be  abused, 

134 


ANTIQUARY  "EDIE  OCHILTREE" 

and  it  was  ultimately  determined  to  suppress  the 
charity.  The  last  survivor  of  this  class  of  official 
almsmen  died  probably  in  1863,  for,  though  there  is 
an  item  of  £1  13s.  4d.  in  the  estimates  for  1864-65 
for  alms  and  a  gown,  there  is  no  mention  of  its  having 
been  claimed.  Scott  was  in  doubt  as  to  Edie  Ochil- 
tree's Original  being  a  Blue-gown.  More  than  likely 
he  belonged  to  the  order.  Robert  Chambers,  a  care- 
ful investigator,  thought  so,  and  if  it  affords  any  evi- 
dence, it  may  be  remarked  that  upon  Edie's  rude 
emgy  in  Roxburgh  Churchyard  the  bedesman's  garb 
is  a  conspicuous  adornment. 

Of  the  early  history  of  Andrew  Gemmels,  who  was 
the  individual  Scott  had   in  his  eye  in  depicting 
the  character  of  Edie  Ochiltree,  very  little  can  be 
ascertained  now.     Andrew  was  an  Ayrshire  man. 
Scott  may  have  been  conversant  with  that  circum- 
stance, hence  his  adoption  of  the  place-name  Ochil- 
tree.   Gemmels,  however,  was  not  a  native  of  Ochil- 
tree, but  of  the  adjacent  parish  of  Old  Cumnock.    A 
fairly  well-authenticated  tradition  pointsto  Polquhap 
on  its  southern  border  as  his  birth-spot.    The  name 
Gemmel  or  Gemmels  is  still  found  in  the  locality.  A 
Gemmel  of  Minshalt  in  Old  Cumnock  perished  at  Both- 
well  Bridge,  and  Wodrow  mentions  another  of  the 
name  who  was  banished  by  command  of  Claver- 
house.    One  of  Joseph  Train's  intimates  was  Andrew 
Gemmel,  a  grandson  of  the  Blue-gown.    From  being 
a  farm-servant,  this  second  Andrew  reached  the  posi- 
tion of  surgeon  in  the  navy,  attaining  distinction  in 
135 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS  THE 

the  Mediterranean  Service  under  Lord  Exmouth.    He 
died  at  London  in  1829. 

All  that  can  be  learned  about  Andrew  the  proto- 
type is,  that  at  some  part  of  his  career  he  was  in  the 
army.  Like  Edie  Ochiltree  he  fought  at  Fontenoy. 
Train  says  he  was  twenty  years  a  soldier  and  twenty 
years  a  Blue-gown,  but  he  must  have  held  the  latter 
post  for  a  much  longer  period.  When  his  fighting 
days  were  done,  Andrew,  doubtless,  drifted  into  that 
unsettled  vagrant  life  which  characterised  his  remain- 
ing years.  He  was  the  best-known  gaberlunzie  on 
both  sides  of  the  Border.  His  stories  of  his  campaigns 
and  adventures  in  foreign  countries,  his  flow  of  wit 
and  drollery,  his  skill  at  the  dambrod  [draughts] 
and  other  agreeable  qualities,  rendered  him  a  general 
favourite  and  secured  him  a  cordial  reception  and 
free  quarters  in  every  shepherd's  cottage  and  farm 
kitchen  within  the  sphere  of  hisperegrinations.  Scott's 
description  of  him  is  that  of  a  remarkably  fine  old  fig- 
ure, very  tall,  and  maintaining  a  soldier-like  manner 
and  address.  He  had  intelligent  features,  with  a  power- 
ful expression  of  sarcasm.  His  motions  were  so  grace- 
ful that  he  might  almost  have  been  suspected  of  having 
studied  them.  He  might  have  served  as  an  artist's 
model,  so  wonderfully  striking  were  his  ordinary  atti- 
tudes. He  had  little  of  the  cant  of  his  calling.  His 
wants  were  food  and  shelter,  or  atrifle  of  money,  which 
he  always  claimed,  and  seemed  to  receive  as  his  due. 
He  sang  a  good  song,  told  a  good  story,  was  a  fellow 

of  infinite  jest,  and  satirical  to  a  degree.    It  was,  to 

136 


ANTIQUARY  «  ED1E  OCHILTREE  " 

be  sure,  some  fear  of  this  latter  propensity,  as  much 
as  a  feeling  of  kindness  or  charity,  which  won  him  the 
welcome  he  enjoyed  everywhere.  Unlike  the  Edie  of 
fiction,  Andrew  was  somewhat  fond  of  "the  siller," 
and  was  supposed  t  o  carry  considerable  sums  about  his 
person.  He  was  said  to  be  wealthy  for  one  who  was 
a  waif  of  the  road,  and  could  change  a  pound  note 
on  ocassion.  At  one  time  he  rode  his  rounds  on  a 
good  blood-mare.  He  was  an  inveterate  better  and 
gambler,  and  pocketed  large  amounts  at  the  Border 
race  meetings  and  fairs.  Dr.  Douglas  of  Galashiels 
told  Scott  that  the  last  time  he  saw  Andrew  Gemmels 
he  was  engaged  at  a  game  of  brag  with  the  laird  of 
Gala,  the  latter  sitting  on  a  chair  inside  his  domi- 
cile, the  beggar  on  a  stool  in  the  yard.  They  played 
at  the  window-sill,  and  the  stake  was  a  moderately 
large  parcel  of  silver.  At  Rutherford,  close  to  Rox- 
burgh, Andrew  dropped  a  clew  of  yarn  whose  kernel 
was  foundto  contain  twenty  guineas.  Inlater  life,  how- 
ever, he  lamented  that  the  Blue-gown's  trade  was  £40 
a  year  worse  since  he  had  first  practised  it.  He  de- 
clared that  begging  was  no  profession  for  a  gentleman, 
and  if  he  had  twenty  sons  he  could  not  be  induced  to 
breed  any  of  them  up  in  his  own  line.  At  his  death 
Andrew  was  reputed  to  have  left  a  small  fortune  to 
a  nephew  in  Ayrshire. 

It  is  curious  that  Scott  was  ignorant  both  of  the 
time  and  the  whereabouts  of  Gemmels's  end.  Quoting 
Burns,  he  hazards  the  likelihood  of  his  having  died 

"  A  cadger  powny's  death  at  some  dykeside." 
137 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS  THE 

But  Andrew's  demise  was  much  more  Christian-like, 
as  was  the  wish  of  Edie,  expressed  to  Miss  Wardour  : 
"  Though  I  should  die  at  the  back  of  a  dyke,  they'll 
find  as  muckle  quilted  in  this  auld  blue  gown  as  will 
bury  me  like  a  Christian,  and  gie  the  lads  and  lasses  a 
blythe  lyke-wake  too  ;  sae  there's  the  gaberlunzie's 
burial  provided  for,  and  I  need  nae  mair." 

It  was  in  the  barn  at  the  farm-steading  of  Rox- 
burgh-Newtown, a  favourite  howf ,  that  the  redoubted 
Blue-gown  closed  his  wanderings.    A  narrative  of  the 
circumstances  from  the  pen  of  an  eye-witness,  a  niece 
of  the  kindly  tenant,  has  fortunately  been  preserved. 
In  homely  language  she  describes  how  Andrew  came 
to  Newtown  in  the  year  1793,  "  in  a  very  weakly  con- 
dition, being,  according  to  his  own  account,  105  years 
of  age.    The  conduct  of  some  of  the  country  folks  to- 
wards the  poor  man  in  his  declining  state  was  not 
what  it  should  have  been  ;  probably  most  of  his  old 
patrons  had  died  out,  and  their  more  genteel  descend- 
ants disliked  to  be  fashed  and  burthened  with  a  dying 
beggar ;  so  every  one  handed  him  over  to  his  next 
neighbour  ;  and  he  was  hurried  from  Selkirk  to  New- 
town, a  distance  of  sixteen  miles,  in  three  days.    He 
was  brought  in  a  cart,  and  laid  down  at  Mr.  Rfobert- 
son]'s  byre  door,  but  we  never  knew  by  whom.    He 
was  taken  in,  and  laid  as  usual  on  his  truss  of  straw. 
When  we  spoke  of  making  up  a  bed  for  him,  he  got 
into  a  rage,  and  swore  (as  well  as  he  was  able  to  speak) 
'  that  many  a  clever  fellow  had  died  in  the  field  with 

his  hair  frozen  to  the  ground — and  would  he  submit 

138 


1 


ANTIQUARY  "EDIE  OCHILTREE" 

to  die  in  any  of  our  beds  ?  '    He  did  not  refuse  a  little 
whisky,  however,  now  and  then  ;  for  it  was  cold  in 
the  spring,  lying  in  an  outhouse  among  straw.    A 
friend  who  was  along  with  me  urged  him  to  tell  what 
cash  he  had  about  him,  '  As  you  know,'  she  said,  '  it 
has  been  reported  that  you  have  money.'    Andrew 
replied,  with  a  look  of  derision,  '  Bow,  wow,  wow, 
woman  !  womenfolk  are  aye  fashing  theirsels  aboot 
what  they  hae  nae  business  wi'.'    He  at  length  told 
us  he  had  changed  a  note  at  Selkirk,  and  paid  six  shill- 
ings for  a  pair  of  shoes  which  he  had  on  him  ;  but 
not  a  silver  coin  was  found  in  all  his  duddy  doublets, 
and  many  kinds  of  odd-like  pouch  he  had  :  in  one  of 
them  was  sixpence  worth  of  halfpence, and  two  combs 
for  his  silver  locks,  which  were  beautiful.    The  set 
of  teeth,  which  he  had  got  in  his  one  hundred  and 
first  year,  were  very  white.    What  was  remarkable, 
notwithstanding  all  the  rags  he  had  flapping  about 
him,  he  was  particularly  clean  in  his  old  healsome- 
looking  person.    He  at  last  allowed  the  servants  to 
strip  off  his  rags  and  lay  him  on  a  bed,  which  was 
made  up  for  him  in  a  cart  in  the  byre.    After  he  was 
laid  comfortably,  he  often  prayed,  and  to  good  pur- 
pose ;  but  if  the  servants  did  not  feed  him  right  (for 
he  could  not  lift  a  spoon  to  his  mouth  for  several  days 
before  his  death)  he  would  fire  them  a  passing  bann. 
He  lived  nine  days  with  us,  and  continued  quite  sens- 
ible until  the  hour  of  his  decease.   Mr.  R[obertson]  got 
him  decently  buried.  Old  Jamie  Jack,  with  his  muckle 
nose,  got  his  shoes  for  digging  his  grave  in  Roxburgh 
139 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS 

Kirkyard.  Andrew  was  well  known  through  all  this 
county  and  a  great  part  of  Northumberland.  I  suppose 
he  was  originally  from  the  West  country,  but  cannot 
speak  with  certainty  as  to  that  ;  it  was,  however, 
commonly  reported  that  he  had  a  nephew  or  some 
near  relation  in  the  West,  who  possessed  a  farm  which 
Andrew  had  stocked  for  him  from  the  profits  of  his 
begging." 

The  date  of  his  death  was  31st  March  1793.  More 
than  half  a  century  afterwards,  William  Thomson, 
tenant  of  Over-Roxburgh,  at  whose  father's  house 
Gemmels  was  a  frequent  and  familiar  guest,  raised  a 
plain  but  substantial  memorial  over  his  long  disinte- 
grated dust  : 

THE  BODY  OF  THE 
GENTLEMAN  BEGGAR 

ANDREW  GEMMELS 

ALIAS   EDIE    OCHILTREE 
WAS   INTERRED   HERE 

WHO   DIED    AT 

ROXBURGH   NEWTOWN 

IN   1793 

AGED    106   YEARS 

ERECTED 

BY    W.    THOMSON,    FARMER 

OVER-ROXBURGH 

1849 


CHAPTER  NINE 
THE    BLACK   DWARF 


-'  He  was  so  ugly  and  so  grim 
His  shadow  durst  not  follow  him." 

Pope. 


CHAPTER  NINE 

THE  BLACK  DWARF 

THE  TALES  OF  MY  LANDLORD,  OF  WHICH 

The  Black  Dwarf  is  the  first,  appeared  in  four  series — 
three  between  the  years  1816  and  1819,  the  last  in 
1831.  Scott  represents  them  as  the  production  of  an 
imaginary  pedagogue,  Peter  Pattieson,  and  edited  to 
defray  his  funeral  expenses  by  his  mythical  friend 
and  patron  Jedediah  Cleishbotham,  schoolmaster  and 
parish-clerk  of  Gandercleugh.  Gandercleugh  is  pro- 
bably Galashiels,  but  Lasswade  and  Lesmahagow 
claim  the  distinction.  The  Wallace  Inn,  Pattieson's 
headquarters,  may  have  been  modelled  from  the  old 
"  George  "  at  Melrose.  The  cognomen  Cleishbotham 
was  borrowed  from  James  Broadfoot,  dominie  at  the 
clachan  of  Penninghame,  who  in  a  letter  to  Scott  fa- 
cetiously signed  himself  "  Clashbotham  " — to  cleish, 
or  clash,  in  good  Scots,  meaning  to  flog.  The  real 
venue  of  Broadfoot 's  revels  was  the  Shoulder  of  Mut- 
ton Inn  at  Newton-Stewart. 

What  were  described  as  the  weakest  and  the  strong- 
est of  the  Waverleys  appeared  in  company — The 
Black  Dwarf  and  Old  Mortality.  The  former  the 
critics  have  been  accustomed  to  ban  more  or  less. 
The  plot  is  thin,  improbable,  and  none  of  the  char- 
acters shine  conspicuously.  At  the  same  time  the 
story  is  not  devoid  of  merit.  There  are  some  pass- 
ages which  are  simply  admirable — the  description  of 
the  Elliot  household,  for  instance,  and  the  pictures  of 
143 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS 

Scottish  rural  life,  as  in  Guy  Mannering,  are  perfect. 
It  is  the  conclusion,  the  eclair cissement,  which  is  the 
disappointing  part.  We  know  the  tone  in  which 
Scott  resented  Blackwood's  kindly-intentioned  criti- 
cism. 'Twere  not  for  his  temper,  there  should  have 
been  less  "  huddling  up."  Scott  himself  confessed 
that  he  began  the  tale  well  enough,  but  tired  of  it,  not 
finding  sufficient  scope  for  his  imagination,  thereupon 
"  bungling  up  a  conclusion  as  a  boarding-school  miss 
finishes  a  task  which  she  had  commenced  with  great 
glee  and  accuracy." 

There  is  no  dominant  character  in  the  story.  Ellies- 
law  is  the  rascal  of  the  piece,  one  of  Scott's  few  un- 
natural parents.  The  hero,  Earnscliff,  though  spirit- 
ed and  sensible,  is  seldom  seen.  Isobel  Vere  is  rather 
a  "fusionless"  heroine.  Far  the  best-drawn  figures 
are  those  of  the  Red  Reiver  of  Westburnflat,  "a  pic- 
turesque savage,"  and  honest  Hobbie  of  the  Heugh- 
foot,  types  of  men  who  follow  in  the  wake  of  William 
of  Deloraine  and  our  old  friends  of  the  Poems.  It  is 
in  the  Black  Dwarf, — Elshender  the  Recluse, — Sir 
Edwin  Mauley, — that  interest  centres.  Villainously 
misshapen,  virulently  misanthropic,  he  looks  and 
speaks  like  an  evil  being  incarnate,  but  is,  in  point  of 
fact,  the  good  genius  of  the  story.  He  deplores  his  in- 
firmity. The  disgust  and  scorn  inspired  by  his  ogre- 
ish  presence  compel  him  to  seek  relief  fromthe  world's 
stare  and  (were  it  possible)  from  his  own  rebellious 
spirit.    He  retreats  to  the  haunting  solitariness  of 

Mucklestane  Moor.    But  even  there  he  cannot  es- 

144 


THE  BLACK  DWARF 

cape  from  himself  nor  from  the  process  of  heart- 
hardening.  He  is  Misanthropos  personified.  Yet  he 
is  not  all  bad.  At  times  kindlier  touches  reveal  them- 
selves. Spite  of  the  cruel  disparity  that  exists  be- 
tween him  and  other  men,  he  cannot  forget  that 
he,  too,  is  one  of  the  humans  :  "  Your  deeds,  Elshie, 
are  better  than  your  words,"  answered  Earnscliff ; 
"  you  labour  to  preserve  the  race  whom  your  misan- 
thropy slanders."  Professor  Veitch's  mother,  who 
knew  the  Black  Dwarf's  Original,  used  to  say  there 
was  "  good  in  the  body."  In  the  novel,  what  fuming 
and  storming  at  human  nature  !  For  all  that,  Scott's 
Dwarf  is  not  deaf  to  the  call  of  distress,  or  blind  to  the 
consciousness  of  another's  need.  Even  Westburn- 
flat — tough  old  sinner — he  would  win  from  his  moral 
wanderings. 

"  So,"  said  the  Dwarf,  "  rapine  and  murder  once 
more  on  horseback." 

"  On  horseback  ?"  said  the  bandit;  "  ay,  ay,  El- 
shie, your  leech-craft  has  set  me  on  the  bonny  bay 
again." 

"  And  all  those  promises  of  amendment  which  you 
made  during  your  illness  forgotten  ?  "  continued  El- 
shender. 

"  All  passed  clear  away,  with  the  water-saps  and 
panada,"  returned  the  unabashed  convalescent.  "  Ye 
ken,  Elshie,  for  they  say  ye  are  well  acquent  wi'  the 
gentleman — 

'  When  the  devil  was  sick,  the  devil  a  monk  would  be ; 
When  the  devil  was  well,  the  devil  a  monk  was  he.'  " 
145  K 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS 

'  Thou  say'st  true,"  said  the  Solitary  ;  "  as  well  di- 
vide a  wolf  from  his  appetite  for  carnage,  or  a  raven 
from  her  scent  of  slaughter,  as  thee  from  thy  accursed 
propensities." 

To  Miss  Vere  and  the  Elliot  family  the  Dwarf  was 
a  potent  and  gracious  benefactor. 

II 

It  was  in  the  summer  of  1797  that  Scott  met,  for 
the  only  time  in  his  life,  the  archetype  of  his  Black 
Dwarf.*  Of  all  his  characters,  none  has  been  more 
faithfully  reproduced  from  the  original,  apart  from 
the  idealisation  necessary  for  the  story.  The  occa- 
sion was  a  visit  to  Hallyards,  in  Peeblesshire,the  home 
of  his  boyhood's  friend,  Adam  Ferguson,  later  his 
bosom  cronie  at  Huntlyburn.  Scott  was  accompanied 
by  his  brother,  Captain  John  Scott.  The  pair  were 
making  their  way  up  the  Tweed  valley  to  Moffat  and 
Carlisle,  en  route  for  the  English  Lakes,  a  pilgrimage 
fraught  with  romantic  issues  for  the  younger  man. 
He  was  then  a  briefless  advocate  of  twenty-six,  known 
to  a  small  Edinburgh  coterie  as  a  student  of  German 
romantic  ballads,  the  translator  of  Burger's  "  Lenore" 
and  "  Wild  Huntsman."  Hallyards  is  in  the  Manor 
valley.  It  was  occupied  by  Professor  Ferguson,  his- 
torian of  the  Roman  Republic  and  author  of  an  Essay 

*  Skene  recalls  a  walk  with  Scott  up  Meggetdale  and  over  the 
Bitch  Craig  into  Manor  Water.  While  mention  is  made  of  Ritchie, 
nothing  is  said  as  to  a  visit. 

146 


! 


was 


tor 

ick 

roi 
cca- 
)me 
his 
ied 


man 


his- 


146 


THE  BLACK  DWARF 

on  Civil  Society,  one  of  the  chief  literary  figures  of  his 
time.  In  earlier  life,  Ferguson  served  as  chaplain  to  the 
Black  Watch,  in  Flanders,  and  was  present  at  Fonte- 
noy,  where  his  military  ardour  is  said  to  have  over- 
come his  clerical  decorum.  It  is  interesting  to  recall 
that  years  afterwards,  his  son,  Scott's  friend,  read 
aloud  to  his  men  in  the  lines  at  Torres  Vedras  the 
newly  published  Lady  of  the  Lake. 

On  one  of  Scott's  Hallyards'  days,  his  host  took  him 
to  see  David  Ritchie,  known  throughout  the  district 
as  "Bowed  Davie,"  and  by  those  kindly  disposed 
to  and  familiar  with  him  as  simply  "  Davie,"  or 
"  Dauvit,"  or  "  Davie  o'  the  Wuddus  "  [Woodhouse]. 
From  Hallyards  to  Woodhouse  is  barely  a  mile.  We 
can  imagine  the  interest, the  excitement,  the  feeling  of 
curiosity,  which  such  a  visit  would  evoke  on  the  part 
of  Scott,  who  even  then  was  living  in  a  world  of  dream- 
land and  of  eld,  the  result  of  his  German  and  Border 
studies.  "  We  can  picture  the  two,"  says  Professor 
Veitch,  "  the  venerable  professor  with  his  slim  erect 
figure  and  flowing  hair,  and  the  young  advocate,  with 
hislimpinggait — making  their  way  across  the  low-lying 
haughs  by  the  stream  inthe  quiet  of  the  summer  even- 
ing,— to  be  afterwards  famous  as  Mucklestane  Moor." 
It  is  William  Chambers  who  gives  the  most  graphic 
account  of  the  interview  :  "  At  the  first  sight  of  Scott, 
the  misanthrope  seemed  oppressed  with  a  sentiment  of 
extraordinary  interest,  which  was  either  owing  to  the 
lameness  of  the  stranger, — a  circumstance  throwing  a 
narrower  gulf  between  him  and  most  other  men, — or 
H7 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS 

to  some  perception  of  an  extraordinary  mental  char- 
acter in  this  limping  youth,  which  was  then  hid  from 
other  eyes.  Aftergrinningupon  him  for  a  moment  with 
a  smile  less  bitter  than  his  wont,  the  Dwarf  passed  to 
the  door,  double-locked  it,  and  then  coming  up  to  the 
stranger,  seized  him  by  the  wrist  with  one  of  his  iron 
hands  and  said :  '  Man,  hae  ye  ony  poo'er  ? '  By  this 
he  meant  magical  power,  to  which  hehad  himself  some 
vague  pretensions,  or  which,  at  least,  he  had  studied 
and  reflected  upon  till  it  had  become  with  him  a  kind 
of  monomania.  Scott  disavowed  the  possession  of  any 
gifts  of  that  kind,  evidently  to  the  great  disappoint- 
ment of  the  inquirer,  who  then  turned  round  and  gave 
a  signal  t  o  a  huge  black  cat ,  hitherto  unobserved,  which 
immediately  jumped  up  to  a  shelf,  where  it  perched 
itself,  and  seemed  to  the  excited  senses  of  the  visitors 
as  if  it  had  really  been  the  familiar  spirit  of  the  man- 
sion. '  He  has  poo'er,'  said  the  Dwarf,  in  a  voice  which 
made  the  flesh  of  the  hearers  thrill ;  and  Scott,  in  par- 
ticular, looked  as  if  he  conceived  himself  to  have  actu- 
ally got  into  the  den  of  one  of  those  magicians  with 
whom  his  studies  had  rendered  him  familiar.  'Ay, 
he  has  poo'er,'  repeated  the  Recluse ;  and  then,  going 
to  his  usual  seat, he  sat  for  some  minutes  grinning  hor- 
ribly, as  if  enj  oying  the  impression  he  had  made,  while 
not  a  word  escaped  from  any  of  the  party.  Mr.  Fer- 
guson at  length  plucked  up  his  spirits,  and  called  to 
David  to  open  the  door,  as  they  must  now  be  going. 
The  Dwarf  slowly  obeyed,  and  when  they  had  got 

out,  Mr.  Ferguson  observed  that  his  friend  was  as 

148 


THE  BLACK  DWARF 

pale  as  ashes,  while  his  person  was  agitated  in  every 
limb."  * 

The  Black  Dwarf  was  not  published  for  nineteen 
years  afterwards,  but  how  true  to  the  facts  was  the 
novelist's  reproduction  of  this  scene  in  the  cottage 
(chap,  xvi.) — Isabella  Vere's  visit  to  the  Solitary — 
and  the  almost  exact  description  of  the  interior  itself  ! 
Indeed,  so  deep  and  strong  must  have  been  the  im- 
pression made  upon  Scott  that  from  the  Dwarf  of 
fiction  there  is  hardly  missing  a  characteristic  be- 
longing to  the  original,  with  the  exception  that  in  the 
story  the  Recluse  is  a  personage  of  birth  and  quality, 
and  that  his  motive  in  bidding  adieu  to  the  world  was 
a  reverse  in  love. 

Ritchie  was  the  queerest,  most  extraordinary- 
looking  object  imaginable — dwarf  and  giant  in  one. 
He  was  not  more  than  three  feet  six  inches  in  height, 
was  oddly  misshapen,  preternaturally  ugly,  a  shock- 
ing travesty  of  the  human  form  divine,  not  bearing 
any  likeness  to  anything  in  this  upper  world.  Several 
sketches  of  him  are  extant,  as  well  as  a  stone  effigy 
in  front  of  the  modern  Hallyards.  The  latter  is, 
presumably,  an  imaginary  representation.  Two  of 
the  sketches  are  from  memory  ;  the  third  (that 
reproduced),  whilst  the  rudest  and  most  repellent, 
may  be  regarded  as  a  genuine  likeness  of  the  creature. 
The  merit  of  this  sketch  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  was 
surreptitiously  drawn  from  life  by  a  tradesman  (a 
mason)  employed  at  Woodhouse  during  alterations 

*  History  of  Peeblesshire,  pp.  403,  404. 
149 


THE    SCOTT   ORIGINALS 

about  the  year  1802.     There  is  no  reason  to  doubt 
the  authenticity  of  the  drawing.*     As  in  other  pic- 
tures of  him,  the  Dwarf  is  shown  wearing  a  cowl  or 
nightcap,  and  carrying  a  long  pole,  a  kind  of  alpen- 
stock, which  he  called  his  kent,  and  without  which 
he  could  not  have  moved  but  with  great  difficulty. 
His  dress  is  hodden-grey,  and  a  plaid  is  thrown  over 
his  right  shoulder.     Generally  speaking,  the  sketch 
corroborates  the  careful  pen-portrait  given  to  Dr. 
"  Rab  "  Brown  by  Robert  Craig,  a  retired  Peebles 
surgeon  living  at   Hallmanor.     Craig,  it  should  be 
stated,  had  the  best  opportunities  for  learning  all 
that  could   be   known  about    the  Solitary :   "  His 
forehead  was  very  narrow  and  low,  sloping  upwards 
and  backwards — something  of  the  hatchet  shape  ; 
his  eyes  deep-set,   small,   and  piercing  ;    his  nose 
straight,  thin  as  the  end  of  a  cut  of  cheese,  sharp  at 
the  point,  nearly  touching  his  fearfully  projecting 
chin  ;   and  his  mouth  formed  nearly  a  straight  line  ; 
his  shoulders  rather  high,  but  his  body  otherwise 
the  size  of  ordinary  men  ;  his  arms  were  remarkably 
strong."  His  legs  were  very  short,  and  dreadfully  de- 
formed.   Mungo  Park,  then  a  surgeon  in  Peebles,  who 
attended  him  on  one  occasion,  compared  them  to  a 
pair  of  cork-screws.     "  The  principal  turn  they  took 
was  from  the  knee  outwards,  so  that  he  rested  on  his 
inner  ankles  and  the  lower  part  of  his  tibias.  .  .  .  The 

*  The  sketch  has  come  into  the  author's  handsfrom  a  representa- 
tive of  theBallantynes  of  Woodhouse.who  many  a  time  befriended 

the  Dwarf. 

150 


M 


THE  BLACK  DWARF 

thrawn  twisted  limbs  must  have  crossed  each  other 
at  the  knees."  * 

Nothing,  however,  could  be  better  than  Scott's 
own  description.  This  is  how,  in  the  early  dawn, 
Elshie  appeared  to  Earnscliff  and  Hobbie  Elliot  at 
the  task  of  building  his  hut  on  Mucklestane  Moor  : 
"  His  head  was  of  uncommon  size,  covered  with  a 
fell  of  shaggy  hair,  partly  grizzled  with  age  ;  his 
eyebrows,  shaggy  and  prominent,  overhung  a  pair 
of  small,  dark,  piercing  eyes,  set  far  back  in  their 
sockets.  .  .  .  The  rest  of  his  features  were  of  the 
coarse,  rough-hewn  stamp,  with  which  a  painter 
would  equip  a  giant  in  romance  ;  to  which  was  added 
the  wild,  irregular,  and  peculiar  expression,  so  often 
seen  in  the  countenances  of  those  whose  persons  are 
deformed.  His  body,  thick  and  square,  like  that  of 
a  man  of  middle  size,  was  mounted  upon  two  large 
feet ;  but  nature  seemed  to  have  forgotten  the  legs 
and  the  thighs,  or  they  were  so  very  short  as  to  be 
hidden  by  the  dress  which  he  wore.  His  arms  were 
long  and  brawny,  furnished  with  two  muscular  hands, 
and,  where  uncovered  in  the  eagerness  of  his  labour, 
were  shagged  with  coarse  black  hair.  It  seemed  as 
if  nature  had  originally  intended  the  separate  parts 
of  his  body  to  be  the  members  of  a  giant,  but  had 
afterwards  capriciously  assigned  them  to  the  person 
of  a  dwarf,  so  ill  did  the  length  of  his  arms  and  the 
iron  strength  of  his  frame  correspond  with  the  short- 
ness of  his  stature  "  (chap.  iv.). 

*  Horae  Subsecivae. 
151 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS 

He  never  wore  shoes,  the  extremities  of  his  legs 

being  wrapt  in  rags  and  old  stockings,  with  the  toes 

always  exposed,  even  in  the  severest  weather.    There 

are  curious  stories  of  his  extraordinary  strength-of- 

arm  and  feats  of  heavyweight  lifting.     "  Though  ye 

may  think  him  a  lamiter,"  says  Hobbie  Elliot,  "  yet 

grippie  for  grippie,  I'll  wad  a  wether  he'll  make  the 

bluid  spin  frae  under  yer  nails.     He  is  a  teugh  carle, 

Elshie  !    He  grips  like  a  smith's  vice."    With  ease 

he  could  butt  his  head  through  a  tar-barrel,  or  the 

panels  of  a  door.    On  one  occasion  he  overbalanced 

himself  and  fell  over  the  steep  Swire  Bridge  to  the 

rocky  bed   of   the   Manor,  without   any   apparent 

injury.     His  mode  of  locomotion  was  as  peculiar  as 

his  shape.     He  placed  his  kent  in  front  of  him, 

rested  his  hands  on  its  rounded  top,  then  lifted  one 

leg  somewhat  in  the  manner  in  which  the  oar  of 

a  boat  is  worked,  and  then  the  other,  next  advanced 

his  staff,  and  repeated  the  operation,  by  diligently 

continuing  which  he  was  able  to  make  not   very 

slow  progress.     He  frequently  walked  to  Peebles — 

four  miles — and  back  again  in  one  day.    Scott  makes 

much  of  Elshie's  strength  in  the  manipulation  of  the 

boulders  of  his  cottage.     It  was  this  feature  which 

confirmed  Hobbie's  belief  in  his  supernatural  power. 

When  Earnscliff  and  Elliot  volunteered  to  help  him 

in  raising  the  rough  walls  of  his  dwelling  the  Dwarf 

stood   aside   and   allowed  them  to  proceed  at  his 

directions — but  only  that  he  might  have  his  fling  at 

the  failure  of  ordinary  capacity  :  "  Elliot  and  Earns- 

152 


THE  BLACK  DWARF 

cliff  placed  the  stone,  by  their  joint  efforts,  upon 
the  rising  wall.  The  Dwarf  watched  them  with  the 
eye  of  a  taskmaster,  and  testified,  by  peevish  ges- 
tures, his  impatience  at  the  time  which  they  took  in 
adjusting  the  stone.  He  pointed  to  another — they 
raised  it  also ;  to  a  third,  to  a  fourth — they  con- 
tinued to  humour  him,  though  with  some  trouble, 
for  he  assigned  them,  as  if  intentionally,  the  heav- 
iest fragments  which  lay  near.  '  And  now,  friend,' 
said  Elliot,  as  the  unreasonable  Dwarf  indicated 
another  stone  larger  than  any  they  had  moved, 
'  Earnscliff  may  do  as  he  likes  ;  but  be  ye  man  or 
be  ye  waur,  deil  be  in  my  fingers  if  I  break  my  back 
wi'  heaving  thae  stanes  ony  langer  like  a  barrow- 
man,  without  getting  sae  muckle  as  thanks  for  my 
pains.' " 

Here  is  another  story  of  the  real  Dwarf  :  "  Near 
his  cottage  were  some  large  trees  to  be  dug  up,  one 
of  which  occupied  two  men  for  two  days  constant 
picking  and  undermining.  The  Dwarf  happening 
to  pass  by,  saw  and  taunted  them  with  their  weak- 
ness, telling  them  with  his  usual  acrimony,  '  that  he 
would  do  in  two  minutes  what  had  ta'en  siccan 
twae  whaesel-blawn  creatures  twae  days  to  do  with- 
out effect.'  Then,  setting  his  bull-like  head  and 
shoulders  to  the  bottom  of  the  tree,  he  gave  it  a 
push  of  so  tremendous  a  force  as  fairly  rooted  it 
up  from  the  foundation,  to  the  astonishment  of  the 
men,  who  stared,  thinking  he  was  possessed  of  the 
powers  of  a  giant.  Davie  marched  off  with  all  the 
153 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS 

dignity  of  having  done  a  great  action,  muttering  : 
'  Brush  o'  Babel  !   do  that  an'  ye  can.'  " 

The  disposition  of  the  misanthrope  ran  through 
Ritchie's  whole  life,  and  it  is  that  which  is  specially 
emphasised  in  the  character  of  the  Black  Dwarf.  The 
sense  of  his  deformity  haunted  him  like  a  spectre, 
and  the  insults  and  abuse  to  which  this  exposed  him, 
had  poisoned  his  heart  with  fierce  and  bitter  feel- 
ing. He  was  not,  as  has  already  been  said,  wholly 
given  over  to  badness,  or  to  an  incarnate  hatred  of 
the  world  in  general.  There  were  times'when  he  mel- 
lowed down,  when  the  sentimental  and  emotional 
element  triumphed.  He  could  be  gentle  on  occa- 
sion. He  had,  for  instance,  a  singular  fondness  for 
children,  notwithstanding  William  Chambers's  state- 
ment to  the  contrary.  He  had  a  liking  for  good- 
looking  damsels,  and  was  passionately  attached  to 
all  forms  of  animal  life.  He  kept  a  cat  and  a  dog, 
a  couple  of  goats,  and  was  something  of  an  apiarist. 
His  domestic  pets  and  his  bees  he  knew  would  not 
mock  him,  or  cast  the  torturing  stigma  in  his  teeth. 
It  is  refreshing  to  find  such  traits  in  a  character  other- 
wise so  unnatural  and  devoid  of  sympathy.  Davie's 
main  hobby  was  his  garden.  He  certainly  bore  no 
grudge  to  Mother  Nature  in  the  generous  moods  with 
which  she  had  decked  the  green  braes  and  haughs 
of  Manor.  Long  had  he  learned  how  true  it  is  that 
"  Nature  never  did  belie  the  heart  that  loved  her." 
His  garden  he  planted  and  fashioned  into  a  thing  of 
order  and  beauty,  walling  it  round,  digging  it,  stock- 

154 


THE  BLACK  DWARF 

ing  it  with  incredible  labour.  "  He  had  managed  to 
collect  flowers,  fruit-trees,  kitchen  vegetables,  and 
certain  medicinal  herbs  known  to  the  popular  Scot- 
tish pharmacopoeia.  These  he  dried  and  dispensed  to 
those  who  sought  them.  He  planted  willows  and 
rowan  trees.  The  rowan  was  his  prophylactic  against 
witches,  whom  he  dreaded  greatly.  He  stocked  the 
place  with  bee-hives,until  the  garden  became  a  model 
spot,  quite  unapproached  by  the  plots  of  the  peas- 
antry of  the  district,  whose  highest  ambition  was 
cabbages.  The  hermit's  garden  thus  grew  to  be  the 
wonder  of  the  countryside.  It  was  the  main  delight 
and  solace  of  his  solitary  life,  and  it  pleased  him  great- 
ly to  show  it  to  visitors,  jealous  and  exacting  as  he  was 
in  regard  to  intercourse  with  strangers."  * 

Again,  this  characteristic  is  seen  in  the  novel  : 
"  Next  morning  the  heath  was  in  its  thickest  and 
deepest  bloom.  The  bees,  which  the  Solitary  had 
added  to  his  rural  establishment,  were  abroad  and  on 
the  wing,  and  filled  the  air  with  the  murmurs  of  their 
industry.  As  the  old  man  crept  out  of  his  little  hut, 
his  two  she-goats  came  to  meet  him,  and  licked  his 
hands  in  gratitude  for  the  vegetables  with  which 
he  supplied  them  from  his  garden.  '  You,  at  least,' 
he  said,  '  see  no  difference  in  form  which  can  alter 
your  feelings  to  a  benefactor.  .  .  .  While  I  was  in 
the  world,  did  I  ever  meet  with  such  a  return  of 
gratitude  ? '" 

Nor  was  Ritchie  altogether  an  ignoramus  with  re- 

*  Veitch's  Border  Essays,  p.  44. 
155 


THE   SCOTT    ORIGINALS 

gard  to  life's  deeper  and  weightier  matters.  He  could 
read  English  fairly  well,  we  are  informed.  He  was 
fond  of  history  and  poetry.  Shenstone's  Pastorals 
fascinated  him.  He  revelled  in  Allan  Ramsay,  though, 
curiously,  Burns  was  one  of  his  aversions.  Scott 
heard  him  repeat  Milton's  description  of  Paradise  in 
a  vein  of  admirable  appreciation.  He  paid  some  at- 
tention to  Tooke's  Pantheon,  attracted,  probably,  by 
its  mythologies,  on  which  he  descanted  at  every  ingle- 
nook  in  the  valley.  Wallace  and  Bruce  were  his  prime 
heroes,  and  his  mind  was  stored  with  the  traditionary 
lore  of  his  native  Tweeddale.  He  was  supposed  to 
have  peculiar  views  on  religious  subjects,  and  was  pro- 
bably theistic  in  his  belief.  He  seldom  went  to  church, 
though  there  was  a  vein  of  real  piety  about  the  man. 
He  left  behind  him  a  well-thumbed  Bible — Kincaid's 
fine  quarto  edition — and  he  spoke  of  a  future  state 
with  intense  feeling,  and  even  with  tears.  Scott's 
Recluse,  notwithstanding  his  moods  of  despair,  his 
fits  of  madness,  never  utterly  forgets  religion  and 
God.  Thus  he  exclaims  :  "  All  [mankind]  are  of  a 
piece — one  mass  of  wickedness,  selfishness,  and  in- 
gratitude— wretches  who  sin  even  in  their  devotions, 
and  of  such  hardness  of  heart  that  they  do  not,  with- 
out hypocrisy,  even  thank  the  Deity  Himself  for  His 
warm  sun  and  pure  air." 

In  the  main,  however,  we  must  not  forget  that 
David  Ritchie  was  the  jealous  and  irritable,  the 
crabbed  and  surly  dog  depicted  in  the  novel.    His 

threats  and  the  nature  of  his  retorts  on  those  who 

156 


THE  BLACK  DWARF 

attacked  him  were  not  unfrequently  of  the  coarsest 
character ;  but  we  must  keep  in  mind  the  circum- 
stances. He  had  his  tormentors  and  his  persecutors, 
whose  provocations  were  often  far  removed  from  the 
category  of  practical  jokes.  Take  him  all  in  all,  Pro- 
fessor Ferguson's  estimate  is  as  sane  and  as  charitable 
as  any  :  "  David  Ritchie  was  a  man  of  powerful  ca- 
pacity and  original  ideas,  but  whose  mind  was  thrown 
off  its  just  bias  by  a  predominant  degree  of  self-love 
and  self-opinion,  galled  by  the  sense  of  ridicule  and 
contempt,  and  avenging  itself  upon  society,  in  idea 
at  least,  by  a  gloomy  misanthropy." 

As  for  the  life-history  of  the  Black  Dwarf's  Original 
there  is  not  much  to  tell.  Ritchie  was  born  at  Easter 
Happrew,  in  the  parish  of  Stobo,  in  1740,  or  1741. 
His  father,  William  Ritchie,  was  a  labourer  in  the 
slate-quarries  there.  His  mother  was  Annabel  Niven, 
hence  the  Annaple  of  the  novel — the  nurse  in  Hob- 
bie  Elliot's  family.  Davie  attributed  his  deformity  to 
neglect  in  infancy,  but  he  was  doubtless  misshapen 
and  rickety  from  birth.  He  got  very  little  school- 
ing, for  both  parents  died  when  he  was  young.  By 
the  time  he  was  ten,  he  was  at  work  at  Brought  on 
Mill,  and  at  Lyne  Mill,  near  his  birth  spot,  stirring  the 
husks  of  oats  which  were  used  in  the  process  of  corn- 
drying,  an  operation  he  could  do  sitting,  and  do  well 
from  his  abnormal  strength  of  arm.  From  Lyne,  he 
was  sent  to  Edinburgh  to  learn  brush-making,  and  he 
averred  to  Scott  that  he  wrought  at  the  same  trade 
in  Dublin.  But  the  annoyance  to  which  he  was  sub- 
157 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS 

jected  by  the  street  boys  was  more  than  he  could 
bear.  Mortified  and  irritated,  he  found  his  way  back 
to  Peeblesshire — to  beautiful  Manor,  "  that  sweetest 
vale  of  all  the  south,"  as  Professor  Veitch  describes 
it .  His  first  cottage,  on  ground  belonging  to  the  farm 
of  Woodhouse,  he  built  with  his  own  hands,  and  there 
he  lived  until  1802,  when  Sir  James  Naesmyth  of 
Posso,  the  laird,  replaced  it  by  one  of  stone  and  lime, 
with  a  thatched  roof.  It  is  this  house  *  which  is 
still  standing, — modernised  and  slated,  with  another 
dwelling  tacked  on  to  the  west.  The  original  door- 
way has  been  preserved,  and  the  tiny  window  or  bole 
in  the  wall,  through  which,  as  the  novel  remarks,  he 
could  see  any  one  who  approached  it  without  the  pos- 
sibility of  their  seeing  him. 

If  David  Ritchie,  on  coming  to  Manor,  began  to  re- 
ceive assistance  from  the  poor's  fund  administered 
by  the  kirk-session,  the  date  of  his  arrival  was  the 
year  1762.  In  that  year  we  find  the  first  notice  of 
him  in  the  parish  records.  For  almost  half  a  century 
he  was  in  receipt  of  a  small  half-yearly  allowance. 
The  first  entry,  28th  February  1762,  is  as  follows  : 
"  To  David  Ritchie  for  cloathes  £3  12s."    There  is  a 

*  The  height  of  the  south  or  front  wall  is  8  feet  6  inches ;  the 
breadth  1 1  feet.  Inside,  the  length  of  the  area  is  14  feet  10  inches  ; 
the  breadth  7  feet  10  inches.  The  height  of  the  roof  is  7  feet  10 
inches.  The  height  of  the  Dwarf's  doorway  is  exactly  3  feet  10 
inches  (Scott  says  3  feet  6  inches) .  The  window  is,  as  from  the  first, 
without  glass  ;  it  is  1  foot  4  inches  in  height,  and  1  foot  5  inches  in 
breadth.  There  is  also  a  small  opening  in  the  north  wall  of  the 
cottage,  1  foot  3  inches  in  breadth  inside.  A  stone  seat  used  by 
Ritchie  is  exhibited  in  the  back  garden,  the  wall  of  which  must 
have  been  little  altered  since  the  Dwarf's  day. 

158 


THE  BLACK  DWARF 

dole  of  five  shillings  on  New  Year's  day  1764.  On 
13th  September  1767  he  gets  another  £3  12s.  "  for 
cloathes."  In  1769  he  becomes  the  possessor  of  a 
plaid.  And  so  on,  down  to  1811,  when  he  passed 
beyond  the  need  of  human  charity.  About  1790, 
David's  sister,  Agnes,  came  to  reside  with  him  in 
the  Woodhouse  cottage.  Agnes  Ritchie  had  been 
an  out-worker,  and  in  domestic  service,  but  her 
health  had  failed  :  there  was  some  mental  aberration. 
Brother  and  sister  lived  in  a  state  of  perpetual  feud. 
To  remedy  matters,  an  apartment  was  partitioned 
off  for  Agnes's  use,  with  a  separate,  ordinary  door 
and  window.  After  that,  David  dared  her  to  darken 
his  door  again.  She  survived  the  Dwarf  ten  years, 
dying  about  the  end  of  1821.  On  7th  December 
of  that  year,  we  find  the  following  in  the  record : 
"  A  coffin  for  the  deceased  Agnes  Ritchie,  £1,"  and 
"  for  bread  to  persons  at  her  death,  £0  os.  8d."  A 
touch  of  the  miser  as  well  as  the  misanthrope  ap- 
pears to  have  characterised  David  of  Manor.  At  his 
death  he  had  accumulated  upwards  of  £20,  saved 
chiefly  from  the  charity  of  visitors,  which  he  never 
refused.  From  Dr.  Craig's  letter,  we  gather  that  he 
had  £4  2s.  of  gold  in  one  bag,  and  £y  18s.  in  shillings 
and  half-crowns  in  another,  besides  a  receipt  for  a 
sum  of  £10  10s.  8d.  deposited  with  James  Brown,  of 
Peebles,  by  way  of  a  banking  transaction.  All  this 
money,  to  the  honour  of  the  half-witted  Agnes  Rit- 
chie, was  returned  to  the  poor's  box.  Here  is  the 
minute  attesting  the  same  :  "December  16th — After 
159 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS 

prayer,  sederunt — the  Rev.  William  Marshall,  Mod- 
erator, Dr.  Robertson  and  Alex.  Ker,  Elders.  The 
Moderator  reported  that  he  had  received  from  James 
Brown,  weaver  in  Peebles,  on  the  fifth  of  Decem- 
ber, Ten  pounds  sterling,  which  belonged  to  the  late 
David  Ritchie,  Woodhouse  :  which  money  by  his  de- 
sire was  lodged  in  the  house  of  Sir  Wm.  Forbes  and  Co. 
As  David  Ritchie  had  received  aliment  money  from 
the  funds  of  the  parish  for  many  years,  at  his  death 
his  sister  renounced  all  claim  to  the  said  ten  pounds 
and  requested  the  Moderator,  as  minister  of  the 
parish,  to  add  to  the  poor's  fund  what  was  entrusted 
to  the  care  of  James  Brown  by  her  brother  and  lent 
out  upon  interest." 

The  exact  date  of  the  Dwarf's  death  was  6th  De- 
cember 1811.  Once  he  had  hoped — nay,  implored — 
that  he  might  not  be  buried  among  "  the  common 
brash  "  in  Manor  Kirkyard.  As  in  life,  so  in  death, 
the  ruling  passion  was  pre-eminent.  He  was  eager 
to  lie  on  the  sun-lit  top  of  the  Woodhill,  about  the 
middle  of  the  valley — a  romantic,  green  little  mount, 
crowned  with  an  old  fort  and  a  cairn  of  stones.  For 
such  as  he,  it  would  have  been  the  most  fit  place 
of  sepulture.  Unfortunately,  Sir  James  Naesmyth 
who  had  promised  to  see  Davie's  desire  carried  into 
effect,  was  on  the  Continent  at  the  time,  and  the 
Dwarf  was  interred  in  the  ordinary  way  in  the  parish 
churchyard.  A  proposal  to  lift  his  remains  and  re- 
inter  them  "  where  he  longed  to  be  "  was  abandoned. 

For  many  years  a  heavy  whinstone  slab  kept  guard 

160 


THE  BLACK  DWARF 

over  his  gnarled  and  stunted  bones.  But  on  his  sis- 
ter's burial  in  1821,  the  body  of  the  brother  was  re- 
surrected and  his  bones  sent  to  Glasgow.  The  skull  is 
said  to  have  been  replaced,  but  not  the  legs,  which 
were  at  one  time  in  the  possession  of  Dr.  John 
Brown.* 

The  Dwarf,  says  Professor  Veitch,  could  repeat  the 
lines  attributed  to  Shakespeare  regarding  his  remains, 
and  wished  them  engraven  on  his  own  tomb  : 

"  Good  friend  !  for  Jesus'  sake  forbear 
To  dig  the  dust  enclosed  here  ; 
Blest  be  the  man  that  spares  these  stones, 
And  curst  be  he  that  moves  my  bones." 

But  the  simple  stone,  erected  by  the  brothers  Cham- 
bers more  than  thirty  years  after  Davie's  death,  ex- 
presses neither  benediction  nor  malediction.  If  the 
latter  has  fallen,  the  circumstances  have  never  come 
to  light : 

IN 

MEMORY 

OF 

DAVID  RITCHIE 

THE  ORIGINAL  OF  THE 

"  BLACK  DWARF." 

DIED  l8ll. 

ERECTED  BY 

W.  AND  R.  CHAMBERS 

1845  

*  See  "  The  Black  Dwarf's  Bones  "  in  Horae  Subsecivae. 


CHAPTER   TEN 
OLD   MORTALITY 


1  Grand,  pious  sculptor  of  the  tombs." 

Todd. 


CHAPTER  TEN     OLD  MORTALITY 

WHATEVER  THE  DEMERITS  OF  THE  BLACK 

Dwarf,  there  can  be  no  question  as  to  the  excellence 
of  its  companion,  Old  Mortality.  "  If  you  could  see 
me,"  John  Murray  wrote  to  Scott,  "  as  the  author's 
literary  chamberlain,  receiving  the  unanimous  and 
vehement  praises  of  those  who  have  read  it,  and  the 
curses  of  those  whose  needs  my  scanty  supply  could 
not  satisfy,  you  may  judge  of  the  sincerity  with  which 
I  now  entreat  you  to  assure  the  author  of  the  most 
complete  success."  Lord  Holland  had  said  when 
asked  his  opinion  :  "  Opinion  !  We  did  not  one  of  us 
go  to  bed  last  night,— nothing  slept  but  my  gout."  It 
is  curious  to  find  Scott  persisting  in  his  equivocations ! 
Affecting  to  deny  the  authorship,  he  reviewed  The 
Tales  in  The  Quarterly.  In  point  of  fact,  he  wanted 
an  opportunity  to  rebut  the  charges  which  Dr.  Thomas 
M'Crie,  the  biographer  of  Knox  and  Melville,  had 
brought  against  him  in  the  Edinburgh  Christian  In- 
structor. M'Crie  had  been  criticising  Scott's  histori- 
cal view  of  the  Covenant.  It  is  one  of  the  lengthiest 
critiques  on  record.  The  critic's  position  was  that 
the  author  of  Old  Mortality  had  perpetrated  an  attack 
in  cold  blood  on  the  Covenanters,  that  he  had  aimed 
to  belittle  and  to  vilify  them.  No  greater  injustice 
could  be  done  to  Scott's  always  clean  and  manly  mo- 
tives. For  Dr.  M'Crie  the  novel  was  bristling  with 
distorted  representations,  with  the  most  grotesque 
caricatures  of  men  who  had  carried  their  lives  in  their 

hands  for  conscience'  sake,  men  who  had  been  the  sav- 
165 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS 

iours  of  their  country.  He  protests  against  the  in- 
tolerable partisanship  of  the  tale,  and  declares  that  its 
historical  sense  is  false,  narrow,  outrageously  unpatri- 
otic. He  falls  foul  of  the  earlier  Waverley  romances, 
pronouncing  The  Antiquary"  tame  and  fatiguing,"  and 
so  forth.  He  puts  sentiments  into  Scott's  lips  which 
Scott  never  entertained  in  his  life.  He  quotes  the 
"  Scripture-larded  slang  "  of  the  most  extravagant  of 
the  Cameronians  as  if  the  author  intended  it  to  be  a 
sample  of  the  whole  Presbyterian  sect.  Scott's  crown- 
ing sin  is  his  characterisation  of  Claverhouse — a  pic- 
ture far  removed  from  the  "  Bloody  Claver'se  "  of 
rural  tradition. 

That  Old  Mortality  contains  exaggerations  is  un- 
doubted. On  a  revision,  there  are  some  things  which 
Scott  would  have  amended.  But  as  the  novel  stands, 
are  not  its  "  sins  "  those  of  omission  rather  than  of 
commission  ?  No  light  is  cast  on  affairs  at  the  period 
of  the  story.  No  statement  is  made  of  the  causes 
which  drove  the  insurgents  into  the  field  in  retaliation 
and  self-defence.  There  is  no  hint  of  the  dire  oppres- 
sion, or  of  the  years  of  torture  and  despair  preced- 
ing Drumclog  and  Bothwell  Bridge.  Worst  blunder 
of  all  is  the  prominence  given  to  the  fanatical  and 
disputative  class  among  the  Covenanters,  and  the  al- 
most total  exclusion  of  those  of  them  who  had  never 
a  wish  to  overturn  the  king's  civil  authority  but  were 
only  anxious  for  toleration  to  worship  as  conscience 
directed.     At  the  same  time,  there  exists  evidence 

enough   that    Kettledrummle   and  his  companions 

1 66 


OLD  MORTALITY 

(Mucklewrath  excepted)  were  not  without  archetypes, 
whose  extravagances  equalled,  if  they  did  not  sur- 
pass, anything  that  Scott  had  depicted. 

Many  of  the  names  in  Old  Mortality  were  borrowed 
from  that  list  of  sufferers  for  the  Covenant  appended 
to  A  Cloud  of  Witnesses.  The  name  of  Habakkuk 
Mucklewrath  is  almost  certainly  derived  from  Mat- 
thew Micklewrath,  or  from  Daniel  Mickelwrick,  vic- 
tims both  of  the  "saint-killing  year."  Maclure  (the 
name  borne  by  that  most  perfect  heroine,  Bessie 
Maclure)  is  Maclurg — improved.  Scott  himself  says 
that  the  name  of  the  mutinous  and  murderous  trooper, 
black  Frank  Inglis,  was  taken  from  "  Peter  or  Patrick 
Inglis  who  killed  one  James  White,  struck  off  his  Head 
with  an  Ax,  brought  it  home  to  Newmilns,  and  plaid 
at  the  Foot-ball  with  it."  Gabriel  Kettledrummle 
finds  a  precedent  for  his  Christian  name  in  Gabriel 
Thomson,  who  was  executed  at  the  age  of  eighteen. 
Halliday,  Hunter,  Wilson,  are  other  names  that  ap- 
pear on  the  Cloud  list.  As  for  Originals,  Ephraim 
Macbriar,  that  fearless,  radiant  testifier  (to  whose 
heroism  Scott  does  full  justice), unquestionably  stands 
for  Hugh  M'Kail,  who,  however,  had  run  his  brief  race 
thirteen  winters  before  Drumclog  and  Bothwell  were 
fought.  Goose  Gibbie  has  his  prototype  in  Willie 
Hawick,  a  silly,  weak  person  about  Kelso.*  There 
were  traits  of  Scott's  old  neighbour,  "  Nippy  of  the 

*  "I  am  confirmed  in  this  opinion  not  only  by  the  vraisem- 
blance  of  the  portrait,  but  by  the  circumstance  that  Scott  fre- 
quently met  Hawick  at  our  cottage  home  in  the  days  of  his  Kelso 
boyhood." — Autobiography  of  William  Jerdan. 
167 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS 

Peel,"  in  the  mean,  close-fisted  Laird  Milnwood.  John 
Balfour  of  Burley  (properly  "  of  Kinloch  "),  that  Jehu 
of  the  Covenant,  appears  in  a  rather  better  light  than 
he  was  in  reality.  A  "  little  squint-eyed  man,  of  a 
very  fierce  aspect,"  he  was  in  actual  life  a  conscience- 
less enthusiast,  whose  enthusiasm  darkened  into  the 
bigotry  of  the  fanatic,  "  who  had  never  any  great 
character  for  religion  among  those  that  knew  him," 
and  whom  the  ministers  of  the  Scots  congregation  at 
Rotterdam  would  never  allow  to  sit  at  Communion 
with  them.* 

Of  Tillietudlem,  Lady  Bellenden's  Castle,  where 
Morton  (one  of  the  best  of  Scott's  heroes)  besieged  his 
own  lady-love,  where  Cuddie  Headrigg  was  repulsed 
by  Jenny  Dennison's  scalding  brose,  Scott  wrote  to 
Skene  :  "  I  did  not  think  on  Craignethan  in  writing 
about  Tillietudlem,  and  I  believe  it  differs  in  several 
respects  from  my  chateau  en  Espagne.  It  is  not  on  the 
Clyde  in  particular,  and  if  I  recollect,  the  view  is 
limited  and  wooded,  but  there  can  be  no  objection  to 
adopting  it  as  that  which  public  taste  has  adopted  as 
coming  nearest  to  the  ideal  of  the  place. ' '  Blackwood, 
near  Lesmahagow,  has  been  set  down  as  Milnwood, 
and  Crichope,  in  Closeburn,  is  as  like  the  Black  Linn  of 

*  There  is  the  curious  tradition  that  Balfour  actually  returned  to 
Scotland  from  Holland  (instead  of  being  drowned  on  the  voyage). 
He  is  said  to  have  settled  at  Rosneath  under  the  name  of  Andrew 
Salter,  where  his  descendants  continued  for  generations.  A  small 
stonewith  the  letters  "  A.S."  rudely  traced,  and  barely  discernible 
in  a  corner  of  the  churchyard,  used  to  be  pointed  out  as  indicating 
the  last  resting-place  of  the  terrible  Burley.  In  the  novel,  of 
course,  Balfour's  end  is  entirely  fictitious. 

1 68 


OLD  MORTALITY 

Linklater  as  any  spot  of  the  kind  can  be — "an  awsome 
place  as  ever  living  creature  took  refuge  in  ;  but  he 
[Burley]  loves  it  abune  a'  others ;  and  it's  my  belief 
he  prefers  it  to  a  tapestried  chamber  and  a  bed  o' 
down." 

To  Train  the  genesis  of  the  novel  is  due.  Calling  on 
Scott  at  Castle  Street  one  morning  in  May  1816,  he 
brought  with  him  some  curios  and  a  batch  of  glean- 
ings from  the  realm  of  old-world  story.  In  the  sanctum 
the  pair  fell  to  discussing  that  portrait  of  Claverhouse 
which  now  hangs  on  the  staircase  of  the  study  at 
Abbotsford.  Scott  expressed  the  Cavalier  opinions 
about  Dundee  :  "No  character  has  been  so  foully  tra- 
duced,' '  he  said.  All  this  was  new  to  Train,  "  who  had 
been  nurtured  on  the  old  beliefs."  "Might  he  not,  "said 
Train,  "  be  made,  in  good  hands,  the  hero  of  a  national 
romance  as  interesting  as  any  about  either  Wallace  or 
Prince  Charlie  ?  "  "He  might,"  said  Scott,  "but  your 
western  zealots  would  require  to  be  faithfully  por- 
trayed in  order  to  bring  him  out  with  the  right  effect." 
"  And  what,"  replied  Train,  "  if  the  story  were  to 
be  delivered  as  if  from  the  mouth  of  Old  Mortal- 
ity ?  Would  he  not  do  as  well  as  the  Minstrel  did 
in  the  Lay  ?  "  "  Old  Mortality,"  said  Scott,  "  who  is 
he  ?  "  "  Never  shall  I  forget,"  adds  Train,  "  the 
eager  interest  with  which  he  listened  while  I  related 
to  him  what  I  knew  of  old  Robert  Paterson,  the 
wandering  inscription-cutter."  On  departing,  Train 
promised  that  on  his  return  to  Galloway  he  would  col- 
lect all  particulars  available  respecting  him.  "  Do  so 
169 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS 

by  all  means,"  was  Scott's  reply;  "I  assure  you  I 
shall  look  with  anxiety  for  your  communication." 

II 

Robert  *  Paterson  (not  Patterson)  was  the  young- 
est son  of  Walter  Paterson  and  Margaret  Scott.  He 
was  born  at  Burnflat,  otherwise  Haggisha',  a  little 
way  out  of  Hawick.  The  statement  that  Close- 
burn  was  his  birthplace  is  a  mistake,  arising  prob- 
ably from  the  fact  that  his  wife  was  connected  with 
that  parish.  The  date  of  Robert's  entry  on  the  hu- 
man stage  has  been  variously  recorded.  At  Haggis- 
ha', the  Memorial  Tablet  gives  the  year  1712.  A 
tombstone  at  Balmaclellan  reads  1713,  whilst  Old 
Mortality's  son  Robert  says  1715.  This  confliction 
is  partly  explained  by  the  fact  that  there  were  two 
Roberts  in  old  Walter  Paterson's  family,  one  born  in 
1713,  the  other,  as  we  shall  see,  in  1716.  The  Hawick 
Registers  may  be  quoted  as  authority  for  a  circum- 
stance of  which  the  biographers,  as  well  as  the  family 
of  Old  Mortality,  do  not  seem  tohave  been  aware.  On 
14th  July  1713  there  is  this  entry  :  "  Walter  Pater- 
son of  Burnflat  had  a  son  baptized  Robert  before  these 
witnesses — J  ohn  Scott ,  distinctionis  causa  called  J  ohn, 
the  Souldier,  and  Henrie  Paterson,  Carrier  in  Hawick." 
Three  years  later,  on  25th  April  1716,  we  find  the  fol- 
lowing :  "  Walter  Paterson  of  Burnflat  had  a  son  bap- 
tized, called  Robert,  before  these  witnesses — Walter 
Paterson,  in  Hawick,  and  Walter  Scott,  Beddal." 

*  Lockhart,  curiously,  wrote  "Peter"  Paterson. 

170 


OLD  MORTALITY 

We  may  assume,  therefore,  that  Robert  the  first 
had  died  some  time  previous  to  the  birth  of  Robert 
the  second.  It  will  be  remembered  that,  for  the  same 
reason,  there  were  two  Robert  Scotts  and  two  Walter 
Scotts  in  the  family  of  the  Edinburgh  lawyer,  and  here 
we  have  two  Robert  Patersons. 

In  his  thirteenth  year,  Robert  Paterson  was  ap- 
prenticed to  his  brother  Francis,  tenant  of  Corncockle 
Quarry,  Lochmaben.  It  was  at  Corncockle  that  Ro- 
bert mastered  the  stone-craft  which  was  to  carry  his 
name  wherever  the  English  language  is  spoken. 

In  the  haunted  Castle  of  Spedlins,  close  to  Corn- 
cockle, lived  Robert  Gray,  gardener  to  Sir  John 
Jardine,  and  his  daughter  Elizabeth.    Lizzie  Gray 
went  into  the  service  of  Sir  Thomas  Kirkpatrick  of 
Closeburn,  and  about  1743  she  became  the  wife  of 
Robert  Paterson,  and  brought  him  into  Nithsdale.  If 
the  stone  over  her  dust  at  Balmaclellan  gives  her  age 
correctly  at  the  time  of  her  death,  she  must  have  been 
seventeen  or  eighteen  when  the  wedding  took  place. 
No  doubt  it  was  the  prospect  of  starting  on  his  own 
account  that  led  to  the  marriage,  for  immediately 
afterwards  Robert  Paterson  obtained  a  lease  of  Gate- 
lawbridge  Quarry,  in  the  parish  of  Morton,  a  mile 
east  of  Thornhill  Station.    There,  in  the  words  of  a 
native,  the  surface  beds  of  red  freestone  have  been 
"  tirled  "  for  ages.    In  the  meadow,  young  Paterson 
raised  his  cottage  over  a  prehistoric  hypocaust,  un- 
known to  him,  but  laid  bare  by  the  present  lessee  ; 
and  by  the  brown  stream  of  the  Cample  his  family 
171 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS 

increased.  The  couple  sat  in  the  old  kirk  of  Morton, 
now  wasted  to  the  bell  gable,  and  there,  "  before  the 
congregation,"  John  was  baptized  in  1747,  and  Wal- 
ter in  1749.  Robert  was  born  in  1756,  and  there  were 
two  daughters,  Margaret  and  Janet.  It  is  Robert  who 
narrates  the  story  of  his  father's  arrest  by  some  of 
Prince  Charlie's  men  retreating  from  England.  The 
affair  was  trifling.  All  that  the  Highlanders  wanted 
was  to  be  shown  the  nearest  smithy.  That  done, 
Paterson  returned  home  nothing  the  worse  for  his 
adventure,  though  his  wife  had  the  fright  of  her  life 
and  thought  she  would  never  see  her  husband  more. 

When  or  how  Robert  Paterson  blossomed  into  the 
Old  Mortality  immortalised  by  Scott  we  have  no 
means  of  knowing.  Our  sources  of  information  are 
confined  to  Joseph  Train's  statement  and  the  narra- 
tive supplied  by  Old  Mortality's  son  Robert.  Train's 
account  is  to  the  effect  that  Paterson  was  a  religious 
enthusiast  who  spent  the  best  part  of  his  life  in  a  re- 
paration of  the  tombstones  over  the  graves  of  Cove- 
nanters in  the  South  of  Scotland.  This  good  work  he 
did  without  fee  or  reward,  from  sheer  love  of  the  thing, 
from  a  sense  of  the  historic  fitness  of  the  task.  All  he 
asked  was  liberty  to  peacefully  pursue  his  mission  : 
if  hospitality  were  proffered,  he  was  glad  to  accept  it ; 
if  not,  he  had  means  sufficient  for  his  simple  wants. 
Year  by  year  he  bent  to  his  self-imposed  labour.  The 
marks  of  his  chisel  were  to  be  seen  in  every  kirkyard 
from  Tweedsmuir  to  the  Solway.    And  long  had  he 

lingered  by  lonely  mounds  on  vacant  wine-red  moors. 

172 


OLD  MORTALITY 

The  cause  for  which  Christ's  dead  heroes  surrendered 
their  all  was  dear  to  his  heart,  and  in  such  fashion  as 
lay  in  his  power  to  prevent  it,  their  names  at  least 
should  not  be  allowed  to  perish  from  the  earth ;  their 
sleeping-places  should  still  be  pointed  out — 

"Where  hands  were  clasped,  and  the  banner  grasped, 
When  Covenant  watchwords  rang." 

It  was  that  aspect  of  Paterson's  character  which  was 
poured  into  the  ear  of  Scott,  and  it  is  that  interpreta- 
tion of  Paterson's  peregrinations  which  survives  in 
the  popular  imagination. 

In  the  statement  furnished  by  the  son,  there  is  no 
reference  whatever  to  his  father's  Covenanting  pro- 
pensities. According  to  Robert  junior,  Paterson  the 
elder  had  "  plenty  of  business  as  a  builder  and  hewer, 
and  gave  employment  to  a  number  of  men — occasion- 
ally at  least."  In  the  course  of  his  business  he  made 
repeatedtrips  into  Kirkcudbrightshire  for  the  purpose 
of  erecting  headstones,  which  he  supplied  from  his 
quarry.  "  Galloway  he  found  was  a  place  destitute 
of  freestone,  and,  as  a  consequence,  of  gravestones, 
or  any  to  work  them.  After  several  trials  of  carrying 
gravestones  into  Galloway,  and  selling  them,  he  saw 
that  it  answered  his  expectation  of  a  profitable  con- 
cern." To  the  graveyards  of  that  locality  he  gave 
most  of  his  attention,  travelling  from  one  hallowed 
spot  to  another,  accompanied  by  James  Rae,  a  young 
Highlander  who  became  as  adept  as  himself  in  the 
hewer's  craft.  Paterson's  ordinary  occupation  of 
quarrying  and  mason-work  was  now  entirely  subordi- 
173 


THE   SCOTT   ORIGINALS 

nated  to  his  newer  employment.  He  became  (to  use 
a  modernism)  a  tombstone  specialist.  The  fashion  for 
tombstones  was  on  the  increase.  Formerly,  it  was 
only  the  better-off  class  who  could  indulge  in  the 
luxury  of  a  headstone,  but  even  the  poorer  people  in 
Old  Mortality's  time  were  smitten  with  the  wish  to 
commemorate  their  departed  by  something  more  or- 
nate than  a  grey  slab  from  the  hillside.  Hence  work 
such  as  Paterson  could  so  well  execute  was  in  demand 
all  over  Nithsdale  and  throughout  a  great  part  of 
Kirkcudbright  and  Wigtown.  Everywhere  he  was 
known  as  the  Hewer  or  the  Letterer  or  the  Headstone- 
man,  and  latterly  there  was  bestowed  on  him  the  wag- 
gish but  immortal  name  of  Old  Mortality. 

May  we  not  trace  the  origin  of  his  Covenanting  pro- 
clivities to  some  of  those  churchyard  visits  ?  Many 
of  these  God's  acres  were  flowered  with  martyrs' 
graves — some  with  an  appropriate  memorial,  others 
with  nothing  to  show  where  the  dear  dust  lay.  May 
not  the  inspiration  have  come  to  him  as  he  set  him- 
self— at  a  leisurely  moment  perhaps — torecut  or  deep- 
en the  epitaph  on  some  rude  block  or  a  more  orna- 
mental "  throuch  "  that  proclaimed  its  brave  tale  to 
the  passer-by — an  inspiration  which  was  destined  to 
grow  into  a  very  obsession  ?  Nor  must  we  forget  that 
Old  Mortality's  epoch  was  not  far  removed  from  that 
of  the  Covenant.  He  was  born  within  three  decades 
of  the  memorable  year  1685.  In  his  boyhood  at  Ha- 
wick, as  well  as  by  the  banks  of  the  Carron  and  the 
Cample,  he  would  hear  many  [a  rural  hearth  ring  with 

174 


.  ' 


OLD  MORTALITY 

the  exploits  of  the  Hillfolk.  He  would  be  acquainted 
with  Andrew  Ker  of  Shiel,  one  of  the  persecuted,  who 
still  survived.  And,  indeed,  his  whole  environment 
would  send  him  back  in  thought  to  the  time 

"when  kings 
Claimed  right  divine  to  murder  honest  men, 
And  vassal  bishops  flapped  their  vulture  wings 
O'er  God's  dear  saints,  hunted  from  glen  to  glen." 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  the  restoration  of 
martyrs'  monuments  was  not  Robert  Paterson's  main 
business  to  begin  with.  That  is  more  than  likely  to 
have  been  the  work  of  his  later  life,  after  the  Gate- 
lawbridge  tenancy  ceased  and  his  regular  trade  had 
begun  to  diminish.  The  son's  silence  on  the  subject  is 
perplexing.  It  is  not  easy  to  see  why  he  should  fail  to 
mention  the  traditionary  facts  which  were  accepted 
by  everybody. 

If  the  son  has  not  chronicled  traits  commendable 
and  worthy  in  his  father's  character,  he  does  not  for- 
get to  tell  of  the  less  worthy  and  the  unhappy  things 
which  are  associated  with  the  name  of  Old  Mortality. 
For  it  is  this  same  Robert  who  records  that  disagree- 
able, that  inexplicable  episode  in  Old  Mortality's 
career — his  ten  years'  desertion  of  wife  and  family. 
All  Robert  Paterson's  piety  and  zeal  offer  no  atone- 
ment for  an  offence  so  scandalous.  In  1758,  Elizabeth 
Paterson  was  thirty-two  years  old.  Robert  himself 
was  forty-two.  Their  children  were  all  born.  There 
is  no  hint  of  domestic  unpleasantness.  Remittances 
of  money  were  frequent.  Paterson  was  at  Gatelaw- 
bridge  every  now  and  again.  "  But  about  the  year 
175 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

1758,"  says  the  son,  "  my  father  neglected  to  return 
to  his  family,  and  made  few  remittances."  He  ceased 
to  communicate  with  them  entirely.  Explain  it  as 
we  may  (religious  enthusiasm  can  hardly  be  set  down 
as  the  reason),  such  conduct  is  rather  an  ugly  blot 
on  Old  Mortality's  scutcheon.  Overtures  were  made 
to  him  to  return.  On  one  occasion  Walter,  his  second 
son,  a  lad  of  eleven  or  twelve,  set  out,  like  another 
Japhet,  in  search  of  a  father.  He  discovered  him  at 
work  in  the  old  churchyard  at  Kirkchnst,  across  the 
river  from  Kirkcudbright.  The  obdurate  parent  not 
only  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the  pleadings  of  his  flesh 
and  blood,  but  actually  kept  the  boy  from  going  home 
again.  He  put  him  to  school,  and  taught  him  the 
trade  of  a  stone-cutter,  in  which  Walter  Paterson 
more  than  literally  made  his  mark.  About  1768,  Mrs. 
Paterson  and  her  family,  either  on  their  own  initiative 
or  with  the  assistance  of  the  father  (as  Robert  re- 
ported), removed  to  the  village  of  Balmaclellan,  near 
New  Galloway,  and  there  Mrs.  Paterson  made  a  re- 
spectable livelihood  by  keeping  a  small  school  till  her 
death  in  1785.  If  Robert  Paterson  was  the  instrument 
of  the  removal  to  Balmaclellan,  he  must  have  re- 
turned to  his  old  haunts  soon  afterwards,  and  it  was 
then,  probably,  that  his  wandering  life  really  began. 
The  circumstances  that  occasioned  his  meeting  with 
Scott  are  these  :  In  1793  Scott  was  staying  at  Meigle, 
in  Forfarshire,  the  seat  of  his  friend  Patrick  Murray 
of  Simprin.    In  the  course  of  a  trip  to  Stonehaven, 

to  view  the  ruins  of  Dunnottar  Castle,  they  stumbled 

176 


OLD  MORTALITY 

across  the  old  man  busy  at  his  wonted  occupation — 
renovating  the  tombstone  erected  to  the  memory  of 
the  captives  who  perished  in  the  Whigs'  Vault  at 
Dunnottar.  Scott's  pen-portrait  (true  to  life,  he  says) 
corresponds  in  detail  with  descriptions  which  have 
come  down  from  other  quarters  from  contemporaries 
who  had  often  seen  and  talked  with  Robert  Paterson  : 
"  A  blue  bonnet  of  unusual  dimensions  covered  the 
grey  hairs  of  the  pious  workman.  His  dress  was  a 
large  old-fashioned  coat  of  the  coarse  cloth  called 
hoddin-grey,  usually  worn  by  the  elder  peasants,  with 
waistcoat  and  breeches  of  the  same  ;  and  the  whole 
suit,  though  still  in  decent  repair,  had  obviously  seen 
a  train  of  long  service.  Strong  clouted  shoes,  studded 
with  hobnails,  and  gramoches  or  leggins,  made  of  thick 
black  cloth,  completed  his  equipment.  Beside  him, 
fed  among  the  graves  a  pony,  the  companion  of  his 
journey,  whose  extreme  whiteness,  as  well  as  its  pro- 
jecting bones  and  hollow  eyes,  indicated  its  antiquity. 
It  was  harnessed  in  the  most  simple  manner,  with  a 
pair  of  branks,  a  hair  tether,  or  halter,  and  a  sunk,  or 
cushion  of  straw,  instead  of  bridle  and  saddle.  A 
canvas  pouch  hung  round  the  neck  of  the  animal — 
for  the  purpose,  probably,  of  containing  the  rider's 
tools,  and  anything  else  he  might  have  occasion  to 
carry  with  him.  Although  I  had  never  seen  the  old 
man  before,  yet,  from  the  singularity  of  his  em- 
ployment, and  the  style  of  his  equipage,  I  had  no 
difficulty  in  recognising  a  religious  itinerant,  whom 

I  had  often  heard  talked  of,  and  who  was  known 
i  yj  m 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

in  various  parts  of  Scotland  by  the  title  of  '  Old 
Mortality.'  " 

In  Morton  parish,  writes  Dr.  King  Hewison  (a 
native),  Paterson  was  remembered  as  a  "  little,  bent, 
wizened  old  body  of  four-score  years,  and  weird  to 
look  upon.  Beneath  his  once  blue  Kilmarnock  bonnet 
straggled  bunches  of  long  white  hair  over  shrunken, 
rounded  shoulders.  His  clothes  of  shepherd's  hoddin 
were  waulked  and  '  scaured  '  by  storm  and  sun,  which 
did  not  add  beauty  to  those  baggy  productions,  ill- 
shapen  by  some  Galloway  '  whip-the-cat.'  With  him, 
sometimes  ridden,  anon  riderless,  journeyed  his  faith- 
ful old  white  horse,  itself  a  scarred  monument  of  anti- 
quity, and  very  queer  to  behold  with  its  wooden 
branks,  bags  suspended  on  either  side  (tools  and  vic- 
tual) like  Gilpin's  bottles  '  to  keep  the  balance  true,' 
and  the  hempen  pad  that  counterfeited  a  saddle.  '  A 
gey  eerie  pair,'  said  an  eye-witness  to  the  writer,  and 
made  more  'unco'  when,  with  '  specs  '  on,  the  grizzled 
sculptor  lay  chipping  a  green  stone  in  a  moorland." 

Later  in  the  day,  Scott  appears  to  have  tried  to 
get  into  conversation  with  Paterson  at  Dunnottar ; 
but  even  the  glass  of  whisky  in  the  manse,  "  to  which 
he  was  supposed  to  have  no  objections,"  did  not  un- 
lock his  lips.  He  was  dour  and  dull,  and  in  a  bad 
humour.  "  His  spirit  had  been  sorely  vexed  by  hear- 
ing the  psalmody  directed  by  a  pitch-pipe  in  some 
Aberdeen  kirk  ;  and  he  had  no  freedom  for  conversa- 
tion." 

Scott  says  he  met  Old  Mortality  more  than  once 

i;8 


Old 


ent, 
d  to 
met 
ken, 
Idin 
lich 
I- 
iim, 
ith- 
inti- 
xlen 
ra- 
te,' 
A 
and 


1  KJ 

nich 
bad 
one 


178 


OLD  MORTALITY 

This,  as  we  gather  from  Lockhart,  is  a  mistake.  The 
interview  at  Dunnottar  was  the  only  occasion  on  which 
Scott  saw  the  great  prototype.  A  few  years  after- 
wards, on  St.  Valentine's  Day,  in  the  opening  year  of 
the  newcentury,  Robert  Paterson  was  making  his  way 
to  Bankend,  in  the  parish  of  Caerlaverock  (not  Bank- 
head  of  Lockerbie) ,  when  some  people  observed  him 
approaching  apparently  in  an  uneasy  posture.  Whilst 
they  were  looking,  he  fell  from  his  pony.  He  was 
carried  to  a  house  near  by,  spoke  a  few  words,  told 
who  he  was,  where  his  sons  lived,  and  in  a  short  time 
all  was  over.  Intimation  was  sent  to  Balmaclellan, 
but  owing  to  the  depth  of  snow  at  the  time,  none  of 
his  relatives  were  able  to  get  forward  to  the  funeral ; 
nor  in  after  years  could  the  exact  spot  of  sepulture  be 
discovered  either  by  Scott  or  Joseph  Train.  In  1855, 
his  name  was  inscribed  on  the  family  tombstone  at 
Balmaclellan.*  A  few  years  afterwards  the  firm  of 
Adam  and  Charles  Black,  publishers  of  the  Waverley 
Novels,  considering  that  satisfactory  evidence  could 

*  To  the  Memory  of 
Robert  Paterson,  Stone-engraver,  well  known  as  "  Old 
Mortality,"  who  died  at  Bankend  of  Caerlaverock, 
14th  February,  i8or,  aged  88;  also  of  Elizabeth  Gray, 
his  spouse,  who  died  at  Balmaclellan  village,  5th  May, 
1785,  aged  59  ;  also  of  Robert,  their  son,  who  died  30th 
April,  1846,  aged  90  ;  also  of  Agnes  M'Knight,  his  spouse, 
who  died  5th  August,  1818  ;  also  of  John,  their  son,  who 
died  29th  January,  18 10,  aged  13  ;  also  of  Alexander, 
who  died  at  Wakefield,  26th  October,  1837,  aged  42; 
also  of  Robert,  their  son  who  died  at  Liverpool,  3rd 
February,  1865,  aged  65— Erected  by  Thomas  Paterson, 
1855. 
179 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

be  shown  of  Paterson's  having  been  interred  in  the 
churchyard  of  Caerlaverock,  erected  a  plain,  neat 
headstone  with  mallet  and  chisel  over  this  inscrip- 
tion :  * 

ERECTED 

To  the  Memory 

of 

ROBERT  PATERSON 

the 

Old  Mortality 

of 

Sir  Walter  Scott 

Who  was  buried  here 

February,  1801. 

Why  seeks  he  with  unwearied  toil, 

Through  Death's  dim  walks  to  urge  his  way, 

Reclaim  his  long-asserted  spoil, 
And  lead  oblivion  into  day  ? 

The  remarkable  story  connected  with  Old  Mortal- 
ity's son,  John,  must  be  referred  to,  if  only  to  set  at 
rest  once  for  all,  statements  that  have  absolutely  no 
foundation  in  fact.  It  was  (and  still  is)  asserted  that 
John  Paterson,  who  is  said  to  have  emigrated  to  Am- 
erica between  the  years  1766  and  1776,  was  the  Mr. 
Patterson,  a  wealthy  Baltimore  merchant,  whose 
daughter,  "  the  belle  of  Baltimore,"  became  (in  1803) 
the  wife  of  Jerome  Bonaparte,  Napoleon's  youngest 
brother,  and  King  of  Westphalia.  John  Paterson,  ac- 
cording to  the  story,  had  also  a  son,  Robert,  whose 
widow  became  Countess  of  Mornington,  and  Mar- 

*  Statues  of  Old  Mortality  and  his  pony  have  been  erected  in 
the  Garpcl  Glen,  Balmaclellan,  and  Maxwelltown,  and  in  Laurel 
Hill  Cemetery,  Philadelphia,  U.S.A. ;  in  1897,  tablets  were  placed 
on  his  birth-cottage  at  Haggisha'. 

180 


OLD  MORTALITY 

chioness  of  Wellesley.  It  is  a  pretty  tale — the  de- 
scendants of  Old  Mortality  linked  to  the  conqueror 
of  Europe  and  to  the  vanquisher  of  that  conqueror. 
That  Scott  had  doubts  on  the  matter  is  seen  from 
a  letter  to  Train,  who  had  furnished  him  with  the 
tradition :  "  I  shall  hardly  venture  to  mention  the 
extraordinary  connection  between  the  Bonaparte 
family  and  that  of  Old  Mortality  till  I  learn  from 
you  how  it  is  made  out ;  whether  by  continued  corre- 
spondence between  the  families  of  the  two  brothers, 
or  otherwise.  A  strain  of  genius  (too  highly  toned 
in  the  old  patriarch)  seems  to  have  run  through  the 
whole  family." 

The  proof  which  Scott  desired  never  existed.  The 
matter  seems  to  have  originated  in  the  mixing  up  of 
two  families  of  the  same  name.  In  the  latter  part  of 
the  eighteenth  century  William  Patterson,  from  the 
north  of  Ireland,  settled  in  Philadelphia,  and  after- 
wards established  himself  in  Baltimore,  where  he 
turned  to  business  and  became  one  of  Baltimore's 
wealthiest  citizens.  In  1779  he  married  Dorcas  Spear, 
the  eighteen-year-old  daughter  of  William  Spear.  By 
her  he  had  thirteen  children — eight  sons  and  five 
daughters,  among  them  a  Robert  and  an  Elizabeth. 
Robert,  the  second  son,  married  Mary  Caton,  eldest 
daughter  of  Richard  Caton.  The  husband  died  in 
1822,  and  three  years  later  Mrs.  Patterson  became  the 
wife  of  the  Marquis  Wellesley,  brother  of  the  Duke  of 
Wellington.    Two  of  her  sisters  also  allied  themselves 

with  the  English  aristocracy — Elizabeth  Caton  be- 
181 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

coming  Lady  Stafford,  and  Louisa  Caton,  Duchess  of 
Leeds.  The  lady  with  whom  Jerome  Bonaparte  fell  so 
deeply  in  love,  and  whom  he  married,  but  ultimately 
divorced,  was  Elizabeth,  eldest  daughter  of  William 
Patterson  and  Dorcas  Spear.  Elizabeth  Bonaparte 
died  at  Baltimore  in  1879,  at  the  age  of  ninety-five. 
Her  son,  Jerome  Napoleon,  married  an  American  lady, 
who  had  two  sons,  one  of  whom,  Charles  Joseph  Bona- 
parte, was  Attorney-General  of  the  United  States. 

In  an  autobiographic  note  attached  to  the  will  of 
William  Patterson,  distinct  mention  is  made  of  his  an- 
cestors and  of  his  own  birth-spot :  "I  was  born  on  the 
first  of  November,  old  style,  in  the  year  1752,  at  a 
place  calledFanat,  in  the  county  of  Donegal,  Ireland." 
It  has  since  been  found  that  he  was  born  at  Ros- 
garrow,  on  the Fanad  peninsula.  To  this  place,  and  the 
neighbouring  townlands  of  Urbleshinney  and  Glen- 
keen,  the  ancestors  of  William  Patterson  came  from 
Newton-on-Ayr  late  in  the  seventeenth  or  early  in 
the  eighteenth  century. 

John  Paterson,  who  was  born  in  1747  (parish  re- 
gister in  General  Register  House),  could  not  have 
been  the  grandfather  of  Elizabeth,  as  is  suggested  ; 
indeed  there  is  no  proof  that  John  Paterson  ever  even 
emigrated  to  America.  He  may  have  done  so  ;  but 
spite  of  the  credence  which  still  obtains  amongst  repre- 
sentatives of  the  families  concerned,  it  must  be  said 
that  there  is  not  a  shred  of  evidence  to  associate  him 
with  their  very  romantic  story,  much  as  one  should 

desire  to  see  it  substantiated. 

182 


OLD  MORTALITY 

Old  Mortality's  descendants  were  destined  to  rise, 
not  by  any  fortuitous  circumstance  of  marriage  or  re- 
lationship, but  by  the  slow  recognition  of  worth  and 
goodness.  His  grandson,  Nathaniel  Paterson  (son  of 
the  lad  Walter  mentioned  on  page  176),  became  min- 
ister of  Galashiels  in  1821.  A  frequent  visitor  at  Ab- 
botsford,  Scott  speaks  of  him  in  the  highest  terms. 
Translated  to  St.  Andrew's,  Glasgow,  he  joined  the 
Free  Church,  became  D.D.,  and  was  Moderator  of  As- 
sembly in  1850. 

Nathaniel  Paterson,  who  took  considerable  interest 
in  mechanics,  has  been  regarded  as  the  inventor  of  a 
form  of  lifeboat.  But  he  is  best  known  as  the  author 
of  The  Manse  Garden.  That  little  work,  written  at 
Galashiels  whilst  an  invalid,  appeared  anonymously 
(lest,  as  the  preface  quaintly  puts  it,  the  reverend 
writer  should  seem  to  be  giving  more  thought  to  his 
own  garden  than  to  the  Lord's  vineyard),  has  passed 
through  many  editions,  and  is  "  still  read  for  the  sake 
of  its  poetry,  and  wisdom,  and  Christian  kindness, 
where  there  are  no  gardens,  and  will  be  read  for  the 
sake  of  other  days  when  there  are  no  manses."  A 
little  volume  of  Letters  to  his  Family,  said  to  equal 
those  of  Cowper,  was  published  after  his  death.  An- 
other grandson  of  Old  Mortality,  Walter  Paterson, 
brother  to  Nathaniel,  was  at  one  time  Professor  of 
English  at  Jena.  He  became  minister  of  Kirkurd,  in 
Peeblesshire,  and  wrote  what  Christopher  North  has 
described  as  "that  beautiful  but  neglected  poem," 
The  Legend  of  Iona. 


CHAPTER  ELEVEN 
ROB   ROY 


"  The  eagle  he  was  lord  above, 
And  Rob  was  lord  below." 

Wordsworth. 


"  Do  not  Maister  or  Campbell  me — my  foot  is  on  my  native 
heath,  and  my  name  is  MacGregor." — Rob  Roy. 


CHAPTER  ELEVEN  ROB  ROY 

ROB  ROY  WAS  PLANNED  IN  THE  SUMMER  OF 

1 817,  and  published  on  the  last  day  of  the  same  year. 
To  Constable  is  due  the  merit  of  the  title,  notwith- 
standing Scott's  preference  for  another — unnamed. 
The  novel  received  a  welcome  as  warm  as  any  of  its 
predecessors.  So  great  was  the  demand  for  copies 
that  the  entire  cargo  of  a  smack  sailing  from  Leith 
to  London  consisted  of  an  edition  of  ten  thousand — 
an  event  unprecedented  in  the  annals  of  literature, 
and  in  the  history  of  the  Custom  House.  When  the 
novel  was  dramatised  and  acted  at  Edinburgh  by 
William  Murray's  Company,  it  brought  down  the 
house.  Along  with  the  last  proof-sheets,  the  author 
announced  his  satisfaction  at  being  rid  of  the  work  : 

"  Dear  James  [Ballantyne],  with  great  joy 
I  send  you  Roy, 
'Twas  a  tough  job, 
But  we're  done  with  Rob." 

Rob  was  truly  a  "  tough  job."  The  novel  was 
written  in  tormentis — amid  a  perfect  tyranny  of  aches 
and  pains.  Scott  suffered  from  an  aggravated  form 
of  stomach  cramp,  the  beginning  of  the  illness  which 
ultimately  carried  him  off.  He  was  obliged  to  swallow 
large  doses  of  laudanum — a  remedy  almost  certainly 
followed  by  intense  lassitude  and  depression.  Never 
given  to  voicing  his  melancholy  moods  in  verse,  it  was 
at  this  time  that  he  wrote  the  beautiful  and  touch- 
ing poem  : 
187 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

"  The  sun  upon  the  Weirdlaw  Hill, 
In  Ettrick's  vale,  is  sinking  sweet, 
The  westland  wind  is  hush  and  still. 
The  lake  lies  sleeping  at  my  feet," 

"verses  as  sweet  and  sad  as  ever  came  from  the  broken 
heart  of  Byron,  or  from  the  lyre  which  Shelley  flung 
aside,  to  lie  down  on  the  Bay  of  Naples,  seeking,  like 
a  tired  child,  to  weep  away  this  life  of  care." 

Calling  one  day  for  copy,  Ballantyne  found  Scott 
sitting  with  a  clean  quill  and  blank  sheet  in  front  of 
him.  Expressing  surprise,  Scott  answered  :  "  Ay,  ay, 
Jamie,  'tis  easy  for  you  to  bid  me  get  on,  but  how 
the  deuce  can  I  make  Rob  Roy's  wife  speak  with 
such  a  curmurring  in  my  guts  ?  "  The  novel  betrays 
none  of  this  languorous  feeling.  The  adventurous 
element  is  as  strong,  the  humour  as  free,  as  unre- 
strained, and  as  sympathetic  as  ever.  No  novel  of 
Scott's  so  charmingly  depicts  Scottish  scenery,  or 
gives  more  vivid  glimpses  of  Scottish  history,  and  it 
is  but  truth  to  say  that  seldom  has  any  work  of 
fiction  so  enriched  the  speech  of  the  multitude.  Rus- 
kin's  taunt  that  Scott  never  had  a  fit  of  the  cramp 
without  spoiling  a  chapter,  is  a  curious  commentary 
on  the  success  of  Rob  Roy  both  as  regards  its  popu- 
larity and  as  being  perhaps  the  most  perfect  of  the 
Waverley  series.  Rob,  of  course,  is  the  central  figure 
throughout, — ever  a  "  bonnie  fechter,"  no  matter  his 
occupation  or  situation — ordinary  cattle-drover,  or 
kilted  chief  on  his  native  heath  with  his  shaggy  and 
adoring  Highlanders  around  him.  He  has  a  hand  in 

the  fortunes  of  all  the  other  characters  in  the  story, 

188 


ROB  ROY 

whose  affairs  seem  hopelessly  tangled  and  involved. 
The  end,  however,  brings  its  own  adjustment ;  diffi- 
culties vanish,  the  villains  are  killed  off,  the  sun  shines 
again  for  the  virtuous  and  the  brave. 

How  powerfully  the  subject  appealed  to  Scott  is 
seen  in  his  very  long-winded  Preface.  Scott's  Prefaces 
have  never  been  popular,  notwithstanding  the  infinite 
pains  he  took  with  them.  In  his  hands  they  acquired 
a  dignity  and  an  interest  they  never  had  before  and 
have  never  since  attained.  To  be  sure,  they  are  of  use 
to  the  student  more  than  to  the  casual  reader  of  Scott. 
For  those  who  wish  to  dig  into  the  genesis  of  the  story, 
ascertain  what  Scott  himself  has  to  say  about  Orig- 
inals, gauge  the  author's  mood  and  feeling  at  the  mo- 
ment, the  "  ravelling-out  of  his  weaved-up  follies  " — 
the  Preface — is  indispensable.  Where  ordinary  writ- 
ers content  themselves  with  expressing  indebtedness 
to  so-and-so,  Scott  gives  us  a  delightful  short  story  in- 
terspersed with  wonderful  pieces  of  descriptive  writ- 
ing which  seem  almost  wasted  upon  Introductions  so 
few  people  ever  read. 

As  with  the  rest  of  the  Waverleys,  oral  tradition 

and  personal  reminiscence  contributed  greatly  to  the 

making  of  Rob  Roy.    An  old  Lennoxer  recounted 

his  adventures  as  a  lad  of  fifteen  among  the  herd- 

widdiefows  with  Rob  and  his  blackmailers.  The  story 

of  the  outlaw's  escape  at  the  Fords  of  Frew,  Scott 

heard  from  the  lips  of  a  grandson  of  James  Stewart, 

who  was  the  actual  liberator.  Lockhart  thinks  that 

Rob's  spleuchan  (the  gift  of  Joseph  Train)  was  not 
189 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

without  inspiration  when  the  story  was  on  the  an- 
vil. Another  Abbotsford  "gabion"  was  Rob's  gun,  a 
long-barrelled  weapon  of  Spanish  make,  bearing  the 
initials  R.  M.  C.  As  for  topographical  details,  Scott 
knew  the  Highlands  well.  In  his  teens  (in  1790  or 
thereabouts)  he  was  in  charge  of  an  expedition  from 
the  Court  of  Session  with  a  Summons  of  Removal 
against  Maclaren  of  Invernenty,  in  Balquhidder.  Af- 
ter that,  visits  to  Rob  Roy's  Country  were  frequent, 
and  in  the  summer  preceding  the  publication  of  the 
novel,  the  ground  was  again  covered  in  the  company 
of  Adam  Ferguson.  It  is  the  Rising  of  the  Fifteen 
which  is  pictured  in  Rob  Roy,  not  at  such  length  or 
with  such  wealth  of  detail  as  the  subsequent  attempt 
of  the  Forty-five  in  Waverley.  Alone  of  all  the  series, 
the  hero  himself  narrates  the  story  throughout — a 
literary  accommodation  run  to  seed  by  the  modern 
school  of  romancers. 

Frank  Osbaldistone,  the  nominal  hero,  is  in  some 
ways  a  transcript  of  Scott  himself.  He  is  more  staid 
than  Waverley,  more  vivacious  than  Harry  Bertram 
or  Lovel.  Bailie  Nicol  Jarvie  is,  of  course,  incompar- 
able among  the  men  characters.  "  He  is,  for  all  time, 
the  classic  figure  of  the  pawky  Lowland  merchant — 
hard,  but  honest,  natural  and  simply  cynical,  but 
kindly,  good-natured,  ever  humorous — as  true  a  being 
of  flesh  and  blood  as  ever  trod  the  '  Saut  Market,'  "  in 
the  words  of  Sir  Leslie  Stephen.  There  is  no  known 
Original.but  Charles  Mackay  of  the  Edinburgh  Theatre 

Royal  acted  the  part  to  perfection  on  the  occasion  of 

190 


ROB  ROY 

George  the  Fourth's  first  visit  to  Scotland  in  1822. 
"  Mackay  is  going  up  to  London,"  wrote  Scott  to 
Joanna  Baillie,  "  to  play  Bailie  Nicol  Jarvie  for  a 
single  night  at  Co  vent  Garden,  and  I  beg  you,  of  all 
dear  loves,  to  go  and  see  him ;  for,  taking  him  in  that 
single  character,  I  am  not  sure  I  ever  saw  anything  in 
my  life  possessing  so  much  truth  and  comic  effect  at 
the  same  time  ;  he  is  completely  the  personage  of  the 
drama,  the  purse-proud  consequential  magistrate, 
humane  and  irritable  in  the  same  moment,  and  the 
true  Scotsman  in  every  turn  of  thought  and  action  ; 
his  variety  of  feelings  towards  Rob  Roy,  whom  he 
likes,  and  fears,  and  despises,  and  admires,  and  pities 
all  at  once,  is  exceedingly  well  expressed.  In  short,  I 
never  saw  a  part  better  sustained,  certainly  ;  I  pray 
you  to  collect  a  party  of  Scotch  friends  to  see  it." 

Rashleigh,  "  whose  game  is  man,"  is  the  scoundrel 
of  the  piece — that  most  difficult  of  characters  to  depict , 
plausible  and  talented,  but  an  incarnation  of  baseness, 
the  origin  of  all  the  mischief  that  happens  in  Rob  Roy. 

The  canny  gardener,  "  that  flower  of  serving-men," 
Andrew  Fairservice,  is  a  deftly  drawn  figure,  albeit  a 
source  of  irritation  at  times. 

Di  (not  Die)  Vernon  and  Helen  MacGregor  are 
types  which  Scott  can  best  describe — women  in  their 
more  masculine  moods.  They  have  to  thank  their 
environment  for  their  dispositions.  Both  are  self- 
willed,  high-spirited,  hazarding.  There  is  about  the 
"divine  Diana"  a  tender,  quiet  grace  which  offers  an 
admirable  foilto  the  intrepid,somewhat  melodramatic 
191 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

tendency  of  the  Amazonian  chieftainess.  Di  Vernon 
is  the  first  of  Scott's  heroines  who  has  much  char- 
acter. In  fascination  and  interest  she  ranks  with  the 
Rebeccas,  the  Lucy  Ashtons,  the  Margaret  Ramsays, 
and  the  Clara  Mowbrays  who  followed. 

Of  descriptions  in  Rob  Roy,  the  preaching  in  the  High 
Kirk  of  Glasgow  ;  Fairservice's  gallant  apostrophe 
to  the  noble  pile  ;  the  midnight  meeting  at  Glasgow 
Bridge  ;  and  the  Clachan  of  Aberfoyle  on  a  harvest 
morning,  are  word-pictures  couched  in  the  highest  art. 

The  fate  of  Morris,  Rashleigh's  tool,  one  of  the  few 
utter  cowards  in  Scott,  is  a  tragedy  told  in  a  few  sen- 
tences, all  the  more  impressive  for  its  brevity. 

II 

Readers  of  the  Lady  of  the  Lake  will  recall  the 
song  (in  the  second  Canto)  which  Scott  puts  into  the 
mouths  of  the  MacGregor  boatmen  with  its  wild  cry 
of  savagery  : 

"  Proudly  our  pibroch  has  thrill'd  in  Glen  Fruin, 
And  Bannochar's  groans  to  our  slogan  replied  ; 
Glen  Luss  and  Ross-dhu,  they  are  smoking  in  ruin, 
And  the  best  of  Loch  Lomond  lie  dead  on  her  side. 

Widow  and  Saxon  maid 

Long  shall  lament  our  raid, 
Think  of  Clan- Alpine  with  fear  and  with  woe  ; 

Lennox  and  Leven-glen 

Shake  when  they  hear  agen, 
'  Roderigh  Vich  Alpine  dhu,  ho  !  ieroe  !  ' 

Row,  vassals,  row,  for  the  pride  of  the  Highlands  ! 

Stretch  to  your  oars,  for  the  ever-green  Pine  ! 
O  that  the  rose-bud  that  graces  yon  islands, 

Were  wreathed  in  a  garland  around  him  to  twine  ! 
O  that  some  seedling  gem 
Worthy  such  noble  stem, 

192 


ROB  ROY 

Honour'd  and  bless'd  in  their  shadow  might  grow  ! 

Loud  should  Clan-Alpine  then 

Ring  from  his  deepmost  glen, 
'  Roderigh  Vich  Alpine  dhu,  ho  !  ieroe  I  '  " 

The  Alpines  are  better  known  as  the  MacGregors. 
They  claim  to  be  the  most  ancient  of  Highland  Clans, 
boasting  descent  from  Gregor,  son  of  Alpin,  King  of 
the  Scots,  who  reigned  a.d.  833.  Their  motto,  'S  rio- 
ghail  mo  dhream — "  My  race  is  kingly," — proclaim- 
ed their  royal  degree,  and  their  badge  was  the  pine  of 
their  native  hills. 

They  became  a  numerous  and  powerful  sept, 
especially  in  Perthshire,  where  they  owned  half  the 
county.  From  the  Braes  of  Balquhidder  they  ruled  in 
their  day  of  might,  and  they  kept  the  central  High- 
lands in  awe  for  centuries.  But  gradually  much  of 
their  landed  property  found  its  way,  mostly  by  royal 
charters,  into  the  possession  of  their  more  civilised 
neighbours,  the  Campbells  and  others,  until  about  the 
middle  of  the  sixteenth  century  they  were  reduced 
pretty  much  to  the  position  of  a  clan  of  Ishmaelites 
whose  hand  was  against  every  man's  hand  and  every 
man's  hand  against  theirs.  They  acknowledged  no 
right  but  the  coir  a  glaive — the  right  of  the  strongest 
— and  their  constant  attempts  to  recover  their  lost 
territory,  or  avenge  themselves  on  its  new  owners, 
resulted  in  a  long  series  of  Acts  of  Parliament,  and 
of  the  Privy  Council  of  Scotland,  directed  against 
"the  wicked  clan  Gregor,  so  long  continuing  in 
blood,  slaughter,  hership  [plundering],  manifest  reifts 

and  storths  committed  upon  His  Highness'  peaceable 
193  N 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

and  good  subjects."  These  Acts  produced  little  effect : 
the  MacGregor  raids  continued  :  horrid  barbarities 
were  practised. 

It  is  Dugald  Ciar  Mohr,  "  the  great  mouse-coloured 
man,"  who  divides  with  Rob  Roy  the  reputation  of 
the  clan  for  feats  of  strength  and  skill  in  arms,  and 
an  absolutely  fearless  spirit.  Dugald's  is  an  unsav- 
oury memory.  It  is  one  of  his  monstrous  crimes  which 
forms  the  groundwork  of  the  incident  detailed  in  A 
Legend  of  Montrose.  Dugald's  exploits  were  followed 
by  an  edict  of  the  Privy  Council  (3rd  April  1603) 
abolishing  the  very  name  of  MacGregor,  and  order- 
ing all  who  bore  it  to  adopt  another  patronymic.  They 
were  not  permitted  to  carry  weapons  beyond  a  blunt, 
pointless  knife  for  their  food.  Not  more  than  four 
might  meet  together  at  a  time  ;  and  there  were  other 
drastic  enactments.  The  MacGregors  obeyed  to  the 
extent  of  assuming  other  names,  those  chiefly  of 
neighbouring  families — Campbell,  Graham,  Drum- 
mond,  Murray,  Stewart, — but  they  were  MacGregors 
still.  Albeit  broken  men,  their  unity  as  a  clan  remain- 
ed, and  spite  of  oppressions  and  persecutions  they 
increased  in  numbers  and  influence.  In  the  Great 
Rebellion  they  were  loyal  to  the  Crown,  although 
that  might  have  been  an  opportunity  for  retaliation. 
At  the  Restoration  the  various  statutes  against  them 
were  repealed.  These  were  revived  in  full  force 
after  the  Revolution,  and  it  was  not  until  1784  that 
Parliament  granted   liberty  to  the  MacGregors  to 

resume  their  old  cognomen,  restoring  them  at  the 

194 


and 
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the 
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^■o-      • 


ROB  ROY 

same  time  to  the  full  enjoyment  of  British  citizen- 
ship. 

The  plot  of  Rob  Roy  is  concerned  with  the  period 
when  Jacobite  agents  were  attempting  to  win  the 
MacGrcgors  for  King  James  in  the  coming  Rebellion 
of  171 5.  From  both  sides  they  had  suffered  :  from 
both  sides  they  had  received  favours,  but  by  their 
best  traditions,  by  the  blood  that  tingled  in  their 
veins,  they  could  not  be  other  than  thirled  to  the 
Stuarts. 

Ill 

Judged  by  Scott's  novel,  the  biggest,  bravest  heart 
that  ever  beat  beneath  the  MacGregor  tartan  was  that 
of  Rob  Roy,  so  named  from  the  colour  of  his  hair  and 
his  fresh,  ruddy  complexion.  Scott  did  not  create  the 
Rob  Roy  of  romance.  He  idealises,  no  doubt,  but 
his  interpretation  of  the  character  of  Rob  rests  mainly 
on  the  popular  tradition  of  the  man.  A  descendant 
of  the  blood-thirsty  Dugald  Ciar  Mohr,  Rob  had  all 
his  ancestor's  love  of  the  sword  and  capacity  for 
leadership,  without  his  cruelty.  His  lot  was  cast  in 
the  most  restless  epoch  of  Scottish  history.  It  was  an 
age  of  semi-barbarism,  when  the  passion  for  power 
was  the  main  thing,  when  a  pillaging  of  the  industrious 
Saxon  was  considered  the  proof  of  manliness  and 
bravery. 

Rob  was  the  third  son  of  Donald  MacGregor  of  Glen- 
gyle.  The  Clan  History  gives  the  year  of  his  birth  as 
1660,  while  Scott,  assuming  him  to  have  been  twenty- 
195 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

five  at  the  Hership,  or  Raid,  of  Kippen,in  1691,  makes 
Rob  born  in  1666.  An  entry  in  the  Register  of  Bap- 
tisms for  the  Parish  of  Buchanan  will  give  us  the 
correct  date  : 

"  On  the  7  day  of  March,  1671,  Donald  M'Gregor 
in  Glengill,  pr.  of  Calender,  upon  testificat  from  the 
minr.  yrof  [and]  Margaret  Campbell — son  baptized 
Robert.  Witness,  Mr.  Wm.  Andersone  minr.,  and 
Johne  M'Gregore." 

It  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  baptism  took 
place  shortly  after  birth,  according  to  the  usage  of  the 
times.  The  statement  that  Rob,  at  the  age  of  twenty, 
was  leader  in  the  Kippen  foray  is  extremely  doubt- 
ful. Like  all  his  tribe,  Rob  MacGregor  had  to  assume 
another  name.  He  took  his  mother's,  who  was  a 
Campbell  of  Glenfalloch,  and  he  became  Rob  Roy 
MacGregor  Campbell.  Sometimes  he  signs  himself 
"  Robert  Roy  Campbell."  In  a  document  of  1711, 
he  is  "  Robert  Campbell."  A  letter  to  the  Duke  of 
Atholl  written  in  the  year  1713  bears  the  familiar 
name  Rob  Roy.  Again,  in  1714,  he  signs  "  Robert 
MacGregor,"  and  "  MacGregor  of  Cragrostan,"  and  of 
"  Inversnait  " — a  domain  of  rock  and  forest  lying 
along  the  shore  of  Loch  Lomond.  Doubt  has  been 
cast  on  his  position  as  a  landowner,  but  it  is  certain 
he  had  a  legal  title  both  to  Cragrostan  and  Inver- 
snait. These  properties  may  have  been  acquired  by 
purchase,  or,  as  seems  more  probable,  by  advanc- 
ing money  on  mortgages.     In  Rob's  more  reputable 

epoch  he  was  the  occupant  of  grazing  land  in  Balqu- 

196 


ROB  ROY 

bidder,  a  cattle-drover  on  a  fairly  extensive  scale, 
doing  business  as  far  south  as  the  Tweed  and  the  Sol- 
way.  It  was  a  stroke  of  ill-luck  which  changed  the 
whole  current  of  Rob's  career  and  made  possible  the 
Rob  Roy  of  Highland  legend  and  romance.  Becoming 
involved  in  speculations,  he  not  only  lost  his  own 
savings  but  also  considerable  sums  entrusted  to  him 
by  the  Duke  of  Montrose.  Bankruptcy  followed : 
Rob  absconded.  The  warrant  for  his  arrest  can  be 
read  in  the  Appendix  to  the  novel.  A  distraint  was 
levied  on  his  property,  and  Montrose's  agents  insulted 
Rob's  wife  in  her  husband's  absence.  To  that  in- 
cident is  attributed  the  wild  pipers'  tune  of  "  Rob 
Roy's  Lament,"  in  whose  weird  strains,  one  may 
almost  say  that  something  of  the  mournful  beauty 
of  the  country  has  been  incorporated.  Rob  now 
sought  the  protection  of  Argyll,  the  rival  chief,  and 
it  was  from  this  time  that  his  life  took  on  that  new 
colour  which  characterised  him  ever  afterwards. 

What  was  the  real  character  of  this  man  whose 
name  has  been  so  enshrined  in  song  and  story  ?  Was 
he  the  bad,  villainous  cateran  fighting  for  his  own 
hand,  the  "  Highland  Rogue,"  as  Defoe  has  called 
him — crafty,  quick  to  take  an  advantage,  greedy, 
unscrupulous,  carrying  even  murder  in  his  heart  to 
gain  his  ends  ?  Or,  instead  of  the  red-haired,  red- 
handed  Tyrant  of  the  Braes  of  Balquhidder,  was  he 
the  friend  of  the  poor  and  oppressed,  as  Robin  Hood 
was,  not  given  to  wanton  cruelty,  not  a  monster  thirst- 
ing for  blood,  but  drawing  the  sword  only  when  gener- 
197 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

ous  motives  inspired  him  ?  There  can  be  little  doubt 
that  Rob  Roy  had  a  large  amount  of  that  contempor- 
ary popularity  which  is  reflected  in  the  novel.  Scott 
had  listened  to  Rob  Roy's  story  from  those  who  knew 
Rob  personally,  and  who  gave  him  a  high  character 
for  beneficence  and  humanity.  It  was  that  aspect  of 
the  freebooter's  career  which  attracted  both  Scott 
and  Wordsworth,  the  latter  of  whom  in  his  poem  on 
"  Rob  Roy's  Grave  "  makes  precisely  the  sort  of  de- 
fence which  secured  the  respect  of  Bailie  Nicol  Jarvie : 

"  The  good  old  rule 
Sufficeth  them  ;  the  simple  plan, — 
That  they  should  take  who  have  the  power, 
And  they  should  keep  who  can. 

A  lesson  which  is  quickly  learned, 
A  signal  through  which  all  can  see  : 
Thus,  nothing  here  provokes  the  strong 
To  wanton  cruelty." 

Little  as  the  Bailie  would  approve  of  the  first  stan- 
za, the  spirit  of  the  second  appears  in  his  own  words  : 
"  Set  apart  what  he  had  done  against  the  law  of  the 
country,  and  the  hership  of  the  Lennox,  and  the  mis- 
fortune o'  some  folk  losing  life  by  him,  he  was  an  hon- 
ester  man  than  stude  on  ony  o'  their  shanks."  "  He 
aye  keepit  his  word — I  canna  deny  but  he  keepit  his 
word. — A'  men  allow  that  Rob  keeps  his  word." 

As  for  Rob's  manner  of  life,  no  one  doubts  that  he 

showed  but  little  respect  for  what  law  and  order  there 

was  in  the  Highlands.    Nay,  as  Stevenson  puts  it,  he 

"may  many  a  time  have  been  a  kenning  on  the 

wrong  side  of  the  law,"  but  he  was  far  from  being  the 

terrible  fellow  portrayed  in  some  of  the  biographies. 

198 


ROB  ROY 

He  is  credited  with,  or  blamed  for,  exploits  performed 
by  others  more  lawless  than  himself,  and  there  has 
been  much  exaggeration  of  the  misdemeanours  of 
which  he  may  have  been  really  guilty. 

The  truth  is  that  Rob  Roy's  cattle  raids  were  con- 
fined almost  exclusively  to  the  Graham  Country.  Rob 
never  forgave  Montrose  for  having  turned  against 
him.  He  would,  he  said, "  make  His  Grace  rue  the  day 
on  which  he  quarrelled  with  him,"  and  he  became  the 
terror  of  Montrose's  life  to  the  end.  But  to  many 
another  he  was  a  kind  and  gentle  robber,  who,  while 
he  took  from  the  rich,  was  liberal  in  relieving  the  poor. 
He  was  not  a  plunderer  for  plundering 's  sake.  He  was 
not  a  robber,  or  a  freebooter,  in  the  Border  accepta- 
tion. Freebooters  are  hardly  chosen  to  settle  disputes 
between  neighbour  tenants,  but  Rob  is  found  to  act 
in  that  capacity  more  than  once.  Nor  must  we  con- 
ceive of  him  as  ignorant  and  illiterate.  He  was  not 
so.  He  possessed  the  accomplishment  of  being  able 
to  sign  his  name,  which  few  Highlanders  of  that  day 
could  do,  and  his  letters  are  couched  in  as  good  a 
style  as  the  majority  of  his  contemporaries.'  His  sons, 
also,  were  well  educated,  notwithstanding  that  to  his 
kinsman,  Professor  Gregory  of  Aberdeen, Rob  (bant er- 
ingly)  remarked  that  book-learning  was  but  a  useless 
art.  Rob's  own  regard  for  letters  is  seen  in  the  fact 
that  his  name,  "  Robert  MacGregor,  alias  Rob  Roy," 
appears  in  the  list  of  subscribers  to  no  less  a  work 
than  Keith's  History  of  Affairs  of  Church  and  State  in 

Scotland,  published  at  Edinburgh  in  1734,  the  year  of 
199 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

Rob's  death.   Wordsworth  is  wrong,  therefore,  when 
he  makes  "  generous  Rob  "  exclaim  : 

"  What  need  of  books  ? 
Burn  all  the  statutes  and  their  shelves  ! 
They  stir  us  up  against  our  kind, 
And  worse,  against  ourselves." 

The  time  of  Rob's  death,  says  Scott,  is  not  known 
with  certainty.  The  date,  however,  as  we  learn  from 
the  Caledonian  Mercury  (9th  January  1735),  was  28th 
December  1734,  and  the  place  Inverlochlarig-beg,  at 
the  head  of  Loch  Doine,  in  the  parish  of  Balquhidder.* 

The  tradition  which  represents  Rob  as  rising  from 
his  death-bed  to  receive  the  visit  of  one  with  whom 
he  was  at  enmity  is  well  known:  "Raise  me  from  my 
bed,  throw  my  plaid  round  me,  and  bring  me  my 
claymore,  dirk,  and  pistols ;  it  shall  never  be  said 
that  a  foeman  saw  Rob  Roy  MacGregor  defenceless 
and  unarmed."  Shortly  afterwards  he  said  :  "  lit  is  all 
over  now ;  put  me  to  bed.  Call  in  the  piper.  Let  him 
play  Cha  teill  mi  tuille  [I  will  never  return]  as  long 
as  I  breathe."  Another  account  of  the  closing  scene 
has  been  handed  down :  "  Before  they  parted,  the 
priest  arrived  and  conjured  Rob,  as  he  expected  for- 
giveness from  God,  to  bring  his  mind  in  the  last 
moments  to  forgive  all  his  enemies.  Rob  at  first  de- 
murred at  the  expostulation,  and  the  priest,  to  enforce 
it,  quoted  part  of  the  Lord's  Prayer.  On  hearing  this, 

*  The  house  in  which  he  died  has  been  converted  into  a  shep- 
herd's house  and  bothy.  By  order  of  the  Earl  of  Moray,  the  pro- 
prietor, a  small  part  of  Rob  Roy's  dwelling  was  preserved.  Inver- 
lochlarig-more  and  Inverlochlarig-beg  now  form  an  extensive 
sheep  farm  on  the  Moray  estate. 

200 


ROB  ROY 

Rob  said,  '  Ay,  now  ye  ha'e  gi'en  me  baith  law  and 
gospel  for't.  It's  a  hard  law,  but  I  ken  it's  gospel.' 
Then,  turning  to  Rob  Oig  (young  Rob),  he  addressed 
him  thus :  '  My  sword  and  dirk  lie  there.  Never 
draw  them  without  reason,  nor  put  them  up  without 
honour.   I  forgive  my  enemies ;  but  see  you  to  them, 

or  may '  and  he  expired."    Both  versions  are 

likely  to  be  pure  inventions. 

Rob  died  poor.  The  inventory  of  his  personal  es- 
tate, as  recorded  in  the  Register  of  Dunblane  Testa- 
ments, gives  a  total  value  of  £275,  13s.  4d.  Scots. 
His  wife  was  decerned  sole  executrix. 

Rob  Roy's  wife,  the  Helen  MacGregor  of  tale  and 
tradition,  was  really  christened  Mary.  Born  a  Mac- 
Gregor of  Comar,  she  was  far  from  being  the  vengeance- 
loving  virago  of  the  novel,  but  is  reputed  to  have  been 
a  woman  of  agreeable  temper,  domesticated,  hospi- 
table, musical,  poetic.  An  error  which  has  crept  into 
all  the  genealogies  may  be  corrected  here  :  It  is  that 
Rob's  wife  bore  her  husband  four  sons  instead  of  five. 
In  the  Introduction  to  the  novel,  Scott  says  :  "  Rob 
had  five  sons, — Coll,  Ronald,  James,  Duncan,  and 
Robert."  Duncan,  however,  was  not  Rob's  son.  If 
he  was,  then  he  married  his  niece — Kate  MacGregor, 
the  daughter  of  his  eldest  brother.  He  is  more  likely 
to  have  been  a  cousin's  son  of  Rob  Roy,  and  may  be 
identified  with  Duncan  of  Cuilt,  author  of  a  deeply- 
interesting  Journal  of  the  Clan  of  MacGregor  and  Trans- 
actions of  the  Year  174s,  from  the  Braes  of  Balquhidder 

till  they  returned. 
201 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

Rob's  eldest  son,  Coll  or  Colin,  a  man  of  sterling  up- 
right life — in  singular  contrast  to  his  brothers — died 
the  year  after  his  father  at  the  age  of  thirty-one. 
James  Mohr  MacGregor,  Rob's  second  son,  is  the  best 
known  of  the  four  stalwarts.  Like  his  brothers,  he 
began  life  as  a  small  farmer.  It  was  the  murder  of 
Maclarenof  Invernenty  which  brought  him  intonotice 
and  into  trouble.  Invernenty,  a  MacGregor  holding 
for  generations,  had  been  let  on  lease  to  John  Mac- 
laren.  The  MacGregors  refused  to  move,  and  the 
Maclarens  appealed  to  the  laird  (Stewart  of  Appin) 
to  support  their  claim.  Appin  marched  into  Bal- 
quhidder  with  two  hundred  men  and  there  met  Rob 
Roy,  who,  recognising  the  superior  strength  of  his 
opponent,  at  once  gave  in  and  agreed  to  hand  over 
Invernenty  to  the  Maclarens.  It  was  on  this  occasion 
that  Rob  sought  a  friendly  bout  with  some  of  the 
Appin  gentry  when  Invernahyle  accepted — to  Rob's 
humiliation.  Following  Rob's  death  in  1734,  Mac- 
laren  of  Invernenty  *  proposed  to  turn  the  widow  out 

*  A  brother  of  Maclaren's  (Neil  Maclarcn)  figures  in  Redgaunt- 
let  as  Pate-in-Peril,  the  Laird  of  Summertrees.  He  had  many 
adventures  during  the  Forty-five,  and  was  taken  prisoner  at  Cul- 
loden.  When  on  his  way  to  Carlisle  for  trial,  he  managed  to 
make  his  escape  at  the  Devil's  Beef  Tub,  between  Tweedsmuir 
and  Moffat.  He  darted  over  the  steep  side  of  the  precipice  and 
rolled  down  to  the  foot,  where  he  concealed  himself  till  nightfall. 
He  returned  to  Balquhidder ;  escaping  detection,  dressed  as  a 
woman,  for  a  year,  when  the  Act  of  Indemnity  relieved  him  from 
further  danger.  Invernenty  was  evidently  a  man  of  some  culture, 
for  "IanMaclaren"  (Dr.  John  Watson),  his  descendant,  possessed 
his  copy  of  Theophrastus,  printed  in  Greek  and  Latin.  This  was 
probably  the  Maclarcn  mentioned  at  page  190,  though  Scott, 
writing  thirty-four  years  later,  had  forgot  his  name. 

202 


ROB  ROY 

of  her  farm,  Inverlochlarig-beg,  by  offering  a  larger 
rent.  Whether  at  the  instigation  of  Mary  MacGregor 
or  not,  Robin  Oig  (little  more  than  a  boy)  set  out 
for  Invernenty  armed  with  his  father's  famous  gun. 
John  Maclaren  was  at  the  plough,  and  the  words 
that  escaped  his  lips  when  he  observed  Robin,  are 
repeated  in  Balquhidder  to  this  day  :  "  What  is  that 
snake  doing  round  here  ?  "  he  remarked  to  his  com- 
panion. Robin  fired  :  Maclaren  fell  between  the 
plough-stilts  mortally  wounded.  The  youthful  mur- 
derer fled  to  France,  but  James  Mohr  and  his  brother 
were  arrested  and  indicted  as  accomplices.  No  Report 
of  the  trial  has  been  published,  but  from  a  perusal  of 
the  Book  of  Adjournal  it  is  evident  that  the  charge 
was  not  only  unfounded,  but  had  been  literally 
trumped  up  out  of  enmity  to  the  MacGregors.  Small 
wonder  that  in  the  Forty-five  the  Gregarach  were 
ardent  Jacobites,  making  full  atonement  for  their 
singular  supineness  in  the  Fifteen.  Big  James  was  an 
energetic  officer  in  the  rebel  army.  At  Prestonpans 
he  was  wounded  in  the  thigh,  but  he  was  not  the 
Captain  MacGregor  of  whom  it  is  related  that  after 
receiving  five  wounds,  he  called  out  to  his  men  :  "  My 
lads,  I'm  not  dead,  and  by  God,  I'll  see  if  any  of  you 
does  not  do  his  duty."  * 

After  Culloden,  James  Mohr  was  attainted,  but 
evaded  capture.    He  next  comes  into  notice  in  con- 

*  The  hero  of  the  story  was  really  Captain  Malcolm  MacGregor, 
eldest  son  of  Donald  MacGregor  of  Craigruidhe  in  Balquhidder, 
who  was  mortally  wounded  at  Prestonpans. 
203 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

nection  with  the  abduction  of  Jean  Key  by  Robin 
Oig,  who,  notwithstanding  his  outlawry,  had  return- 
ed home.  (See  Introduction  to  Rob  Roy.)  James, 
charged  as  accessary,  was  seized  and  thrown  into 
prison.  Stevenson  has  told  how  he  escaped  through 
his  daughter  Malie's  wit,  and  once  clear  of  Edinburgh, 
he  took  the  road  to  England.  Wearied  out  one  night 
among  the  Cumberland  fells,  he  sat  down  to  rest, 
when  the  sound  of  voices  reached  his  ears.  He  start- 
ed to  his  feet,  and  by  good  fortune  forgathered  with 
Billy  Marshall,  the  Galloway  gypsy,  who  saw  him  em- 
barked in  safety  for  the  Isle  of  Man.  From  thence 
he  sailed  to  Ireland,  and  eventually  to  France.  His 
melancholy  end  in  Paris  in  1754  readers  of  Catriona 
will  recall,  and  his  request  for  a  set  of  pipes  to  while 
away  his  hours  of  sickness  is  the  final  and  most  path- 
etic passage  in  the  life  of  James  Mohr  MacGregor. 

Ronald  MacGregor,  Rob  Roy's  third  son,  lived  to  a 
great  age  on  his  farm,  the  Kirkton  of  Balquhidder, 
where  he  died  about  1786.  It  is  said  that  when  the 
soldiers  sent  to  watch  the  neighbourhood  after  the 
Forty-five  became  intoxicated  and  set  fire  to  some 
houses,  the  people  wished  to  rise  and  make  an  end  of 
them.  But  Ronald,  foreseeing  the  consequences,  im- 
plored them  for  their  lives  to  do  nothing  that  would 
bring  on  them  the  fury  of  the  Government ;  and  so  in- 
fluential was  he  that  they  instantly  relinquished  their 
intention.  The  career  of  Robert  or  Robin  Oig,  the 
fourth  son,  has  been  referred  to.  Robin,  having  en- 
listed in  the  Forty-second  Highlanders,  then  in  France, 

204 


ROB  ROY 

fought  at  Fontenoy,  lay  in  a  French  dungeon  for  a 
time,  returned  to  England  when  the  Forty-five  broke 
out,  and  was  posted  with  his  regiment  to  defend  the 
coast  of  Kent  in  case  of  invasion.  The  abduction  of 
the  young  widow,  Jean  Key,  took  place  in  175 1,  and 
in  May  1753  Robin  Oig  was  apprehended  at  Gartmore 
Fair,  taken  to  Edinburgh,  where  he  was  tried  24th 
December  1753,  and  condemned  to  death.  On  6th 
February  1754,  he  was  hanged  in  the  Grassmarket. 
In  the  words  of  the  Caledonian  Mercury  of  the  7th, 
"  he  was  very  genteelly  dressed,  behaved  with  great 
decency,  and  declared  he  died  an  unworthy  member 
of  the  Church  at  Rome  ;  and  further  still,  that  he 
attributed  all  his  misfortunes  to  his  swerving  two  or 
three  years  ago  from  that  communion."  On  his  way 
to  the  scaffold  he  read  from  a  volume  of  Gother's 
works.  There  is  a  tradition  that  when  poor  Rob's 
body  was  given  over  to  his  friends  for  burial,  his 
niece,  the  redoubtable  Malie,  refused  to  let  the  exe- 
cutioner touch  his  body-clothes,  which,  according  to 
custom,  were  a  perquisite  of  the  hangman.  The  story 
is  that  she  seized  his  arm  and  swung  him  off  to  a  dis- 
tance, saying :  "  You've  already  done  enough,  and 
won't  be  allowed  to  touch  any  part  of  my  uncle's 
dress."  The  body  was  conveyed  to  Balquhidder,  and, 
clothed  as  it  was,  laid  in  the  grave  of  his  eldest  brother 
Coll,  to  the  melancholy  wailing  of  the  coronach.* 

*  The  MacGregor  graves  are  conspicuous  objects  in  Balquhidder 
kirkyard.  It  should  be  noted  that  the  flat  stone  covering  Rob 
Roy's  remains  is  of  far  older  date  than  the  "  bold  outlaw's  "  time. 


CHAPTER  TWELVE 

ROB  ROY 
"DI  VERNON" 


"  For  you  alone  I  ride  the  ring, 
For  you  I  wear  the  blue  ; 
For  you  alone  I  strive  to  sing, 
O  tell  me  how  to  woo  !  " 

Graham  of  Gartmore. 


CHAPTER    TWELVE  ROB 

ROY  "DI    VERNON" 

SCOTT'S  HEROES  AND  HEROINES  ARE  OFTEN 

the  dullest  and  most  uninteresting  of  his  characters. 
Where  they  fail  to  interest  their  author,  readers  are 
not  likely  to  be  ecstatic.  Sir  Walter,  it  has  been 
remarked,  was  the  last  man  to  saunter  in  the  policies 
with  Miss  Bertram  and  Miss  Mannering  and  young 
Hazlewood,  when  there  was  Dandie  Dinmont  ready 
and  able  to  discourse  on  the  points  of  Dumple  and 
the  pedigree  of  Pepper  and  Mustard.  Why  should  he 
linger  in  Miss  Wardour's  bower  when  he  might  take 
the  road  with  Edie  Ochiltree  ?  What  he  did  not  care 
to  do  himself  he  would  not  inflict  onhis  readers.  Edith 
Bellenden,  Isabella  Wardour,  Rose  Bradwardine, 
Lucy  Bertram,  even  dear,  romantic  Green  Mantle 
— mix  them  up  and  redistribute  the  roles,  and  the 
novels  would  remain  practically  unchanged.  These 
are  the  normal  types  of  Scott's  heroines.  Listless, 
insipid,  mechanical,  they  maintain  little  hold  on  the 
attention.  Their  sphere  of  action  is  limited,  and 
comparatively  few  are  moved  either  by  what  they 
say  or  do.  Scott's  female  characters  are  unquestion- 
ably less  excellent  than  his  male  characters.  But 
what  of  those  abnormal  types  who  carry  their  thrill 
of  life  and  interest  into  every  chapter  ?  Since  Shake- 
speare's time  no  writer  has  given  us  so  truly  great 
and  superlative  female  creations  as  Scott  has.  He 
reaches  Himalaya  height  in  such  a  character  as  Jeanie 
Deans,  for  instance  ;  or  in  Rebecca  of  York  with 
209  o 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

her  peerless  sacrifice ;  or  in  Diana  Vernon  and  her 
sprightliness. 

Di  Vernon  is  the  most  fascinating  of  the  trio  just 
mentioned.  She  is  facile  ftrinceps  the  ideal  woman 
from  the  point  of  view  of  a  man  of  the  world,  dis- 
playing that  combination  of  qualities  which  he  will 
most  admire  and  desire.  Diana  is  herself  a  woman  of 
the  world — a  higher  world  than  that  with  which  the 
term  is  ordinarily  associated.  Her  tastes,  her  inter- 
ests, are  far  removed  from  the  common  sordidness, 
and  when  she  loves,  her  passion  is  pure  as  a  rose 
in  June.  She  knows  how  to  love.  Among  Scott's 
novels  Rob  Roy  stands  alone  as  regards  its  pictures 
of  passionate  love,  yet  how  little  of  the  really  senti- 
mental element  there  is  in  the  story  !  Scott,  unlike 
some  writers — especially  modern  writers — handles 
the  great  theme  with  a  "  truly  Greek  reserve  in  his 
art."  He  "  deals  neither  in  analysis  nor  in  rapturous 
effusions."  Neither  is  hea  cold,  stolid  delineator  of  the 
love-scene,  but  a  very  natural  exponent  of  it.  With 
Scott  there  is  no  stupid,  often  false,  revelling  in  tears 
and  kisses  and  caresses.  He  mentions  the  subject 
with  a  simple  matter-of-fact  directness.  Indeed,  the 
introduction  of  love  affairs  into  any  portion  of  Scott's 
works  is,  as  a  rule,  accidental,  and  when  introduced, 
is  hurried  over  and  dismissed  as  quickly  as  possible, 
in  almost  an  impatient  manner.  The  one  occasion 
in  which  Scott  allows  himself  to  break  his  custom- 
ary reserve  in  recording  hypersentimental  scenes  be- 
tween his  heroes  and  heroines,  is  in  the  novel  under 

210 


ROB  ROY  "DI  VERNON" 

notice.  Barely  two  lines  are  occupied  in  describing  the 
circumstances — that  sad,  quick  embrace  at  the  Fords 
of  Frew  when  only  the  stars  looked  on  (chap,  xxxiii.). 

"  She  extended  her  hand,  but  I  clasped  her  to  my 
bosom.  She  sighed  as  she  extricated  herself  from  the 
embrace  which  she  permitted,  escaped  to  the  door 
which  led  to  her  own  apartment,  and  I  saw  her  no 
more."  And  so  the  days  pass  dolefully,  for  danger 
and  intrigue  are  in  the  air,  before  the  lovers  meet  again 
in  the  dusk  and  the  solitude. 

"  'Mr.  Francis  Osbaldistone,'  cries  a  voice,  the  tone 
of  which  thrilled  through  every  nerve  of  my  body, 
'  should  not  whistle  his  favourite  airs  when  he  wishes 
to  remain  undiscovered.' 

"  And  Diana  Vernon — for  she,  wrapped  in  a  horse- 
man's cloak,  was  the  last  speaker — whistled  in  play- 
ful mimicry  the  second  part  of  the  tune  which  was  on 
my  lips  when  they  came  up." 

Then  it  is  that  Diana  says  her  farewell  to  Frank": 
"Her  face  touched  mine.  She  pressed  my  hand,  while 
the  tear  that  trembled  in  her  eye  found  its  way  to  my 
cheek  instead  of  her  own.  It  was  a  moment  never  to 
be  forgotten — inexpressibly  bitter,  yet  mixed  with  a 
sensation  of  pleasure  so  deeply  soothing  and  affecting 
as  at  once  to  unlock  all  the  flood-gates  of  the  heart." 
She  rides  into  the  night.  "  I  felt  the  tightening  of  the 
throat  and  breast,  the  hysterica  passio  of  poor  Lear  ; 
and,  sitting  down  by  the  wayside,  I  shed  a  flood  of  the 
first  and  most  bitter  tears  which  had  flowed  from  my 
eyes  since  childhood." 

211 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

This  is  Diana  Vernon,  for  whom,  as  Mr.  Lang  says, 
all  men  who  read  Rob  Roy  are  innocent  rivals  of  Frank 
Osbaldistone.  Di  Vernon  is  so  utterly  unlike  any 
other  of  the  Waverley  heroines.  Rather  does  she 
count  cousin  with  the  Rosalinds,  the  Portias,  the 
Beatrices,  the  Imogens — those  "  deathless  daughters 
of  dreams."  She  has  all  their  qualities.  "  Like  them, 
she  is  witty  and  loving;  like  them,  she  plays  on  every 
note,  passing  from  playful  authority  to  serious  hero- 
ism, and,  like  them,  melting  into  womanly  tender- 
ness. She  brightens  the  world  as  she  passes,  and  our 
own  hearts  tell  us  all  the  story  when  Osbaldistone 
says, '  You  know  how  I  lamented  her.'  " 

II 

Captain  Basil  Hall,  writing  of  events  which  hap- 
pened in  1834,  professed  to  have  discovered  the 
Original  of  the  divine  Diana  in  the  person  of  an  old 
Scottish  gentlewoman  of  seventy-four,  then  on  her 
lonely  death-bed  in  a  great  mediaeval  castle  in  Styria. 
The  circumstances  are  so  romantic  that  it  will  be 
necessary  to  tell  the  story  from  the  beginning.  It 
was  when  Scott  in  his  comely  teens  was  attending  the 
Civil  Law  Classes  at  Edinburgh  that  he  came  under 
the  spell  of  Will  Clerk.  Through  Clerk,  Scott  found 
himself  linked  in  close  intimacy  to  a  group  of  other 
young  men  all  high  in  birth  and  family  connection, 
and  all  remarkable  in  early  life  for  the  qualities  which 
afterwards  led  them  to  distinction  in  different  spheres. 

Among  them  was  George  Cranstoun  (the  Lord  Core- 

212 


ROB  ROY  "DI  VERNON" 

house  to  be),  one  of  the  best  friends  Scott  ever  had. 
Cranstoun  lived  in  a  modest  flat  in  Frederick  Street, 
where  his  sister  Jane  Anne  *  kept  house  and  enter- 
tained the  cronies — "the  brotherhood  of  the  Moun- 
tain," who  made  Cranstouns'  their  almost  nightly 
howf.  Dugald  Stewart's  was  another  of  their  meet- 
ing-places, the  Professor's  kind,  romantic  wife  being 
Jane  Anne's  younger  sister.  In  this  way  Scott  and 
Miss  Cranstoun  came  to  see  a  great  deal  of  each  other. 
She  was  aware  of  his  attachment  to  Miss  Belsches, 
and  she  was  among  the  first  to  suspect  his  genius. 

In  the  year  1796  Burger's  extraordinary  ballad  of 
"Lenore"  (Taylor's  translation)  found  its  way  to 
Scotland,  when  Miss  Cranstoun  heard  Mrs.  Barbauld 
recite  it  at  her  brother-in-law's.  Hearing  her  describe 
the  effect  it  had  upon  her,  Scott's  imagination  became 
stirred  and  fired  as  never  before,  and  he  could  not 
rest  until  he  had  mastered  the  poem  in  the  original. 
Not  only  did  he  do  that,  but  he  dashed  off  a  transla- 
tion on  his  own  account,  which  remains  one  of  the 
best  renderings  of  the  poem  in  English.  He  tells  us 
that  he  began  the  task  one  night  after  supper,  and 
did  not  get  to  bed  until  he  had  finished  it,  having  by 
that  time  worked  himself  into  a  state  of  excitement 
which  set  sleep  at  defiance.  In  the  morning  he  carried 
his  manuscript  to  Miss  Cranstoun.  It  was  as  early  as 
six  o'clock,  but  Scott  insisted  upon  seeing  her.    Miss 

*  The  Cranstouns  were  the  son  and  daughter  of  George  Crans- 
toun, seventh  son  of  the  fifth  Lord  Cranstoun.    Their  mother  was 
Maria  Brisbane  of  Brisbane,  in  Ayrshire. 
213 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

Cranstoun  dressed  in  a  hurry,  and  hastened  down- 
stairs wondering  what  Scott  could  want  with  her 
at  such  an  untimely  hour.  He  met  her  at  the  door. 
Holding  up  the  result  of  his  night's  labour,  he  begged 
her  to  listen.  She  was  all  attention,  praised  the  com- 
position, sent  Scott  away  happy,  asking  his  permis- 
sion, however,  to  retain  the  verses  for  a  more  leisurely 
perusal.  Scott  said  he  was  going  to  the  country — to 
Miss  Belsches's  home,  and  Miss  Cranstoun  was  wel- 
come to  the  ballad  until  he  returned. 

Now,  as  will  have  been  guessed,  Miss  Cranstoun 
was  Scott's  confidante  in  his  love-making.  She  was 
older  by  some  years,  and  whether  she  suspected  that 
the  course  of  true  love  was  not  running  as  smoothly 
as  it  might,  her  quick  brain  conceived  of  a  plan  by 
which  success  might  be  hastened.  If  Scott  could  only 
be  presented  in  the  guise  of  an  author,  might  not 
whatever  lukewarmness  was  on  Miss  Belsches's  part 
be  removed?  Will  Erskine,  that  friendly  critic  of 
Scott's,  was  taken  into  confidence,  and  the  plot  per- 
petrated. They  had  "  Lenore  "  printed,  and  bound 
in  the  most  sumptuous  fashion,  and  a  copy  of  the 
little  book  dispatched  to  Scott,  for  presentation  to 
the  lady  of  his  dreams.  The  stratagem  succeeded  well 
enough  in  a  way.  Scott  was  surprised,  flattered.  Miss 
Belsches  was  pleased,  and  the  company,  to  whom  the 
poem  was  read  after  dinner,  no  doubt  regarded  Scott 
as  the  hero  of  the  hour.  There  is  a  scene  in  Rob  Roy 
which  this  incident  may  have  conjured  up  to  the 

author's  memory :  Frank  and  Diana  are  sitting  to- 

214 


ROB  ROY  "DI  VERNON" 

gether  in  the  library  :  Miss  Vernon,  in  turning  over  a 
copy  of  the  Orlando  Furioso,  shook  a  piece  of  written 
paper  from  between  the  leaves.  "  I  hastened  to  lift 
it,  but  she  prevented  me  : 

" '  It  is  verse,'  she  said,  on  glancing  at  the  paper;  and 
then  unfolding  it,  but  as  if  to  wait  my  answer  before 
proceeding — '  May  I  take  the  liberty  ? — Nay,  nay,  if 
you  blush  and  stammer  I  must  do  violence  to  your 
modesty,  and  suppose  that  permission  is  granted.' 

" '  It  is  not  worthy  your  perusal — a  scrap  of  a  trans- 
lation. My  dear  Miss  Vernon,  it  would  be  too  severe 
a  trial  that  you,  who  understand  the  original  so  well, 
should  sit  in  judgment.' 

"  '  Mine  honest  friend,'  replied  Diana,  '  do  not,  if 
you  will  be  guided  by  my  advice,  bait  your  hook  with 
too  much  humility ;  for,  ten  to  one,  it  will  not  catch 
a  single  compliment.  You  know  I  belong  to  the  un- 
popular family  of  Tell-truths,  and  would  not  flatter 
Apollo  for  his  lyre.' 

"  She  proceeded  to  read  the  first  stanza  .  .  . 

"'There  is  a  great  deal  of  it,'  said  she,  glancing 
along  the  paper,  and  interrupting  the  sweetest  sounds 
which  mortal  ears  can  drink  in — those  of  a  youthful 
poet's  verses,  namely,  read  by  the  lips  which  are 
dearest  to  him." 

The  frank  criticism  and  the  conversation  which  fol- 
low are  probably  a  reminiscence  of  MissCranstoun.  As 
for  the  "  lips  dearest  "  on  which  Scott's  thoughts  were 
running  when  he  wrote  this  passage,  these,  as  we  know, 

were  destined  for  another.    In  the  autumn  of  1796 
215 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

Scott  had  his  answer,  and  by  the  beginning  of  1797 
Williamina  Belsches  had  become  the  wife  of  William 
Forbes,  younger  of  Pitsligo,  son  of  the  banker.  "  Many 
an  anxious  thought  I  have  of  you,"  wrote  the  sympa- 
thetic Miss  Cranstoun,  on  receipt  of  the  tidings  that  the 
fateful  monosyllable  had  been  spoken  to  the  lover  at 
Fettercairn.  She  cloaks  her  solicitude  with  airy  non- 
sense, and  wonders  why  the  rejected  had  not  shaped 
his  thought  into  song, ' '  as  Orlando  would  have  done. ' ' 

That  same  year,  1797,  saw  many  changes  in  the 
circle  of  Scott's  intimates.  In  June,  Jane  Anne  Cran- 
stoun had  a  love  romance  of  her  own.  Count  Wenzel 
Gottfried  Purgstall,  an  Austrian  nobleman  of  highest 
birth,  visiting  Scotland,  fell  in  love  with  her,  and  car- 
ried her  off  to  his  princely  old  castle  in  Styria,  where 
Scott  might  have  seen  in  full  swing  that  feudal  system 
so  dear  to  his  imagination. 

Miss  Cranstoun  was  then  thirty-seven.  She  lived 
to  a  green  old  age,  and  all  her  after  life  was  spent  out 
of  Scotland,  nor  did  she  ever  set  foot  on  her  native 
heath  again.  Scott  and  she  corresponded  occasion- 
ally. There  is  (or  was)  a  bundle  of  her  letters  at 
Abbotsford.  To  Scott  on  his  marriage  she  wrote  in  her 
lively  way  :  "  You  can  imagine  how  my  heart  burned 
within  me,  my  dear,  dear  friend,  while  I  read  your 
thrice-welcome  letter.  ...  To  have  a  conviction  that 
those  I  love  are  happy  and  don't  forget  me  ! — I  have 
no  way  to  express  my  feelings — they  come  in  a  flood 
and  destroy  me."   The  letter  throughout  is  an  exile's 

lament .  In  the  closing  sentence  her  feelings  overpower 

216 


ROB  ROY  "DI  VERNON" 

her  :  "  And  is  it  then  true,  my  God,  that  Earl  Walter 
is  a  Benedick,  and  that  I  am  in  Styria  ?  Well,  bless 
us  all,  prays  the  separated  from  her  brethren,  J .  A.  P." 
Hers  was  a  lonely  life  despite  the  splendour  of  its  set- 
ting. She  had  all  that  wealth  and  position  could  give, 
with  several  wonderful  old  crag-crowned  castles  to 
call  her  own — one  of  which,  Riegersburg,  she  likened 
to  Stirling  Castle  (it  bears  an  even  stronger  resem- 
blance to  Edinburgh  Castle),  and  regretted  that  it 
did  not  look  out  on  the  Parliament  Square  of  Edin- 
burgh. Eventful,  too,  and  ultimately  tragic,  was  the 
life  of  the  brilliant  Scottish  Grafinn.  Goethe  she 
knew,  and  Schiller,  and  Kant,  and  Mozart,  and  all 
who  were  worth  knowing  in  Germany.  But  Napoleon 
was  the  great  harassing  figure  in  Europe,  and  who- 
ever were  of  the  rank  of  the  Purgstalls  were  faced 
with  peril  and  uncertainty.  In  1809,  Count  Purgstall 
was  taken  prisoner  at  Padua  and  sent  to  confinement 
at  Mantua.  At  immense  risk,  his  brave  wife  travelled 
to  Vienna  and  procured  his  liberation.  The  hard- 
ships undergone  had  already  sown  the  seeds  of  con- 
sumption, and  his  death  took  place  at  Florence,  22nd 
March  1812.  An  only  son,  Wenzel  Rafael,  succeeded 
to  the  vast  estates,  and  to  the  position  of  the  last  of 
the  race  of  the  once  proud  Purgstalls.  It  was  his 
mother's  devotion  which  kept  him  alive  to  the  age  of 
nineteen.  Not  all  her  care,  not  all  his  precociousness 
could  save  him  from  the  fate  of  his  father,  whom  he 
followed  in  a  few  years. 

Her  friends  were  anxious  that  the  Countess  should 
217 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

now  return  to  Scotland.  She  could  not  drag  herself 
from  the  scene  of  so  much  happiness  and  sorrow.  And 
had  she  not  sworn  to  lay  her  dust  beside  her  dear  ones  ? 
Nor,  so  she  thought,  could  the  day  be  far  distant. 
She,  however,  survived  other  seventeen  years.  On  the 
23rd  March,  1835,  she  died  at  the  Schloss  Hainfield, 
near  Feldback,  forty  miles  from  Gratz,  the  Styrian 
capital. 

Captain  Basil  Hall's  association  with  Countess 
Purgstall  is  of  singular  interest.  A  mere  chance  put 
the  Countess  in  the  way  of  hearing  about  Scotland 
and  of  renewing  acquaintance  with  "  the  language 
of  her  heart,"  which  she  had  almost  ceased  to  speak. 
Basil  Hall  was  the  son  of  old  friends  unseen  for  forty 
years.  Whilst  he  and  his  family  were  travelling  in 
Italy  a  beseeching  invitation  reached  them  to  spend 
the  winter  with  the  Countess  Purgstall  at  Hainfield. 
Accordingly,  they  were  there  for  four  months — an 
infinitely  happy  season  to  the  solitary  chatelaine  hun- 
gering and  thirsting  for  a  revival  of  the  long  ago.  Her 
sparkling  conversation  and  vivacity,  notwithstanding 
age  and  approaching  dissolution,  the  recital  of  old 
Frederick  Street  reminiscences,  her  playful  allusions 
to  her  independent  ways  in  young  womanhood,  her 
fondness  for  horseback,  her  talk  of  the  days  when 
she  was  Scott's  confidante,  forced  Hall  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  she  might  have  suggested  the  heroine  of 
Rob  Roy.  Confirmations  were  not  difficult  to  find. 
Amongst  other  things,  though  Scott  had  sent  her 

each  of  the  Waverleys  as  they  had  appeared,  Rob  Roy 

218 


i 


ROB  ROY  "DI  VERNON" 

was  wanting  from  her  set.  He  had  never  sent  it.  Of 
course  the  novel  was  got,  and  the  Captain  read  it 
aloud,  watching  narrowly  the  effect  produced  on  his 
auditor.  It  interested  her  more  than  any  of  the  other 
novels  had  done,  especially  the  Cumberland  part  of 
the  story.  "  Oh,  I  know  that  scene,"  she  repeatedly 
exclaimed.  "  I  remember  describing  it  myself  to  Sir 
Walter.  That  anecdote  he  had  from  me — I  know 
the  man  that  character  is  taken  from — "  and  so  on 
through  the  greater  part  of  the  book.  But  what  was 
more  remarkable,  though  she  discussed  all  the  other 
characters  and  seemed  to  be  aware  of  the  identity  of 
many  of  them,  she  was  resolutely  silent  on  the  char- 
acter of  Diana  Vernon,  so  much  so  that  the  Halls  hesi- 
tated to  say  anything  further  on  the  subject.  They 
dropped  hints,  and  gave  her  openings,  with  no  result. 
The  evidence  is  meagre,  but  it  is  not  unconvincing. 
While  Lockhart  will  have  none  of  Hall's  theory,  there 
is  some  probability  in  supposing  that  the  Countess 
Purgstall  had  her  own  suspicion  as  to  the  Original  of 
Di  Vernon.  She  answered  to  the  part  in  a  number  of 
striking  ways,  and  in  her  closing  years  she  was,  says 
Hall,  "  exactly  like  what  we  may  suppose  Di  to  have 
been  in  her  old  age." 

During  Basil  Hall's  stay  at  Hainfield  he  was  the 
means  of  clearing  up  a  misunderstanding,  which  for 
years  had  troubled  and  vexed  Scott's  old,  warm- 
hearted friend.  This  was  Scott's  failure  to  acknow- 
ledge a  little  Memoir  of  her  husband  and  son  sent  to 

Abbotsford  as  far  back  as  1822.  In  a  letter  to  Hall, 
219 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

Lockhart  mentions  finding  among  Scott's  papers  an 
undated  letter  thanking  her  for  the  book — her  Denk- 
mal  or  monument.  The  Countess  was  considerably 
agitated  when  the  communication  was  read  to  her. 
She  begged  that  the  precious  paper  which  Sir  Walter 
had  written,  but  evidently  mislaid,  should  be  immedi- 
ately forwarded.  Lockhart  duly  dispatched  it.  It 
succumbed  to  the  uncertainties  of  the  continental 
Post  Office.  Fortunately  Lockhart  had  made  a  copy 
of  what  is  perhaps  the  most  beautiful  and  touching 
epistle  Scott  ever  penned.  The  only  regret  is  that  it 
never  reached  Hainfield : 

"  My  Dear  and  Much-valued  Friend, 

"  You  cannot  imagine  how  much  I  was  interested 
and  affected  by  receiving  your  token  of  your  kind  re- 
collection, after  the  interval  of  so  many  years.  Your 
brother  Henry  breakfasted  with  me  yesterday,  and 
gave  me  the  letter  and  the  book,  which  served  me  as  a 
matter  of  much  melancholy  reflection  for  many  hours. 
"  Hardly  anything  makes  the  mind  recoil  so  much 
upon  itself,  as  the  being  suddenly  and  strongly  re- 
called to  times  long  passed,  and  that  by  the  voice  of 
one  whom  we  have  so  much  loved  and  respected.  Do 
not  think  I  have  ever  forgotten  you,  or  the  many  hap- 
py days  I  passed  in  Frederick  Street,  in  society  which 
fate  has  separated  so  far,  and  for  so  many  years. 

"  The  little  volume  was  particularly  acceptable  to 
me,  as  it  acquainted  me  with  many  circumstances,  of 

which  distance  and  imperfect  communication  had 

220 


ROB  ROY  "DI  VERNON" 

left  me  either  entirely  ignorant,  or  had  transmitted 
only  inaccurate  information. 

"Alas  !  my  dear  friend,  what  can  the  utmost  efforts 
of  friendship  offer  you,  beyond  the  sympathy  which, 
however  sincere,  must  sound  like  an  empty  compli- 
ment in  the  ear  of  affliction.  God  knows  with  what 
willingness  I  would  undertake  anything  which  might 
afford  you  the  melancholy  consolation  of  knowing 
how  much  your  old  and  early  friend  interests  himself 
in  the  sad  event  which  has  so  deeply  wounded  your 
peace  of  mind.  The  verses,  therefore,  which  conclude 
this  letter,  must  not  be  weighed  according  to  their 
intrinsic  value,  for  the  more  inadequate  they  are  to 
express  the  feelings  they  would  fain  convey,  the  more 
they  show  the  author's  anxious  wish  to  do  what  may 
be  grateful  to  you. 

"  In  truth,  I  have  long  given  up  poetry.  I  have 
had  my  day  with  the  public  ;  and  being  no  great  be- 
liever in  poetical  immortality,  I  was  very  well  pleased 
to  rise  a  winner,  without  continuing  the  game,  till  I 
was  beggared  of  any  credit  I  had  acquired.  Besides, 
I  felt  the  prudence  of  giving  way  before  the  more  for- 
cible and  powerful  genius  of  Byron.  If  I  were  either 
greedy,  or  jealous  of  poetical  fame — and  both  are 
strangers  to  my  nature — I  might  comfort  myself  with 
the  thought,  that  I  would  hesitate  to  strip  myself  to 
the  contest  so  fearlessly  as  Byron  does  ;  or  to  com- 
mand the  wonder  and  terror  of  the  public,  by  exhibit- 
ing, in  my  own  person,  the  sublime  attitude  of  the  dy- 
ing gladiator.  But  with  the  old  frankness  of  twenty 
221 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

years  since,  I  will  fairly  own,  that  this  same  delicacy 
of  mine  may  arise  more  from  conscious  want  of  vigour 
and  inferiority,  than  from  a  delicate  dislike  to  the 
nature  of  the  conflict.  At  any  rate,  there  is  a  time 
for  everything,  and  without  swearing  oaths  to  it,  I 
think  my  time  for  poetry  has  gone  by. 

"  My  health  suffered  horridly  last  year,  I  think 
from  overlabour  and  excitation  ;  and  though  it  is  now 
apparently  restored  to  its  usual  tone,  yet  during  the 
long  and  painful  disorder  (spasms  in  the  stomach), 
and  the  frightful  process  of  cure,  by  a  prolonged  use 
of  calomel,  I  learned  that  my  frame  was  made  of  flesh, 
and  not  of  iron,  a  conviction  which  I  will  long  keep  in 
remembrance,  and  avoid  any  occupation  so  laborious 
and  agitating,  as  poetry  must  be,  to  be  worth  anything. 

"  In  this  humour,  I  often  think  of  passing  a  few 
weeks  on  the  Continent — a  summer  vacation  if  I  can 
— and  of  course  my  attraction  to  Gratz  would  be  very 
strong.  I  fear  this  is  the  only  chance  of  our  meeting 
in  this  world,  we,  who  once  saw  each  other  daily  ! 
For  I  understand  from  George  and  Henry,  that  there 
is  little  chance  of  your  coming  here.  And  when  I 
look  around  me,  and  consider  how  many  changes  you 
will  see  in  feature,  form  and  fashion,  amongst  all  you 
knew  and  loved  ;  and  how  much,  no  sudden  squall, 
or  violent  tempest,  but  the  slow  and  gradual  progress 
of  life's  long  voyage,  has  severed  all  the  gallant  fellow- 
ships whom  you  left  spreading  their  sails  to  the  morn- 
ing breeze,  I  really  am  not  sure  that  you  would  have 
much  pleasure. 

222 


ROB  ROY  «DI  VERNON" 

"  The  gay  and  wild  romance  of  life  is  over  with  all 
of  us.  The  real,  dull,  and  stern  history  of  humanity 
has  made  a  far  greater  progress  over  our  heads  ;  and 
age,  dark  and  unlovely,  has  laid  his  crutch  over  the 
stoutest  fellow's  shoulders.  One  thing  your  old  soc- 
iety may  boast,  that  they  have  all  run  their  course 
with  honour,  and  almost  all  with  distinction  ;  and 
the  brother  suppers  of  Frederick  Street  have  certainly 
made  a  very  considerable  figure  in  the  world,  as  was 
to  be  expected,  from  her  talents  under  whose  aus- 
pices they  were  assembled. 

"  One  of  the  most  pleasant  sights  which  you  would 
see  in  Scotland,  as  it  now  stands,  would  be  your  bro- 
ther George  in  possession  of  the  most  beautiful  and 
romantic  place  in  Clydesdale — Corehouse.  I  have 
promised  often  to  go  out  with  him,  and  assist  him 
with  my  deep  experience  as  a  planter  and  landscape 
gardener.  I  promise  you  my  oaks  will  outlast  my 
laurels  ;  and  I  pique  myself  more  upon  my  composi- 
tions for  manure  than  on  any  other  compositions 
whatsoever  to  which  I  was  ever  accessary.  Butsomuch 
does  business  of  one  sort  or  other  engage  us  both,  that 
we  never  have  been  able  to  fix  a  time  which  suited  us 
both  ;  and  with  the  utmost  wish  to  make  out  the 
party,  perhaps  we  never  may. 

"  This  is  a  melancholy  letter,  but  it  is  chiefly  so 

from  the  sad  tone  of  yours,  who  have  had  such  real 

disasters  to  lament — while  mine  is  only  the  humorous 

sadness,  which  a  retrospect  on  human  life  is  sure  to 

produce  on  the  most  prosperous.   For  my  own  course 
223 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

of  life,  I  have  only  to  be  ashamed  of  its  prosperity, 
and  afraid  of  its  termination  ;  for  I  have  little  reason, 
arguing  on  the  doctrine  of  chances,  to  hope  that  the 
same  good  fortune  will  attend  me  for  ever.  I  have  had 
an  affectionate  and  promising  family,  many  friends, 
few  unfriends,  and,  I  think,  no  enemies — and  more 
of  fame  and  fortune  than  mere  literature  ever  pro- 
cured for  a  man  before. 

"  I  dwell  among  my  own  people,  and  have  many 
whose  happiness  is  dependent  on  me,  and  which  I 
study  to  the  best  of  my  power.  I  trust  my  temper, 
which  you  know  is  by  nature  good  and  easy,  has  not 
been  spoiled  by  flattery  or  prosperity  ;  and  therefore 
I  have  escaped  entirely  that  irritability  of  disposition 
which  I  think  is  planted,  like  the  slave  in  the  poet's 
chariot,  to  prevent  his  enjoying  his  triumph. 

"  Should  things,  therefore,  change  with  me — and 
in  these  times,  or  indeed  in  any  times,  such  change  is 
to  be  apprehended — I  trust  I  shall  be  able  to  surren- 
der these  adventitious  advantages,  as  I  would  my 
upper  dress,  as  something  extremely  comfortable, 
but  which  I  can  make  shift  to  do  without."  * 

*  The  verses  alluded  to  have  never  been  found  and  may  never 
have  been  written.  It  was  probably  owing  to  this  circumstance 
that  the  letter  was  not  sent.  The  Countess's  previous  corre- 
spondence with  Scott  is  also  irretrievably  lost — stolen  during  the 
troubles  which  followed  the  long  and  bitter  claim  for  the  Purg- 
stall  estates  after  the  death  of  her  son.  For  fascinating  accounts 
of  Riegersburg  and  its  parish  church  (the  Purgstall  burial-place) 
see  Die  Riegersburg  in  W ort  und  B ild  (Franz  Stallinger)  and  Basil 
Hall's  Schloss  Hainficld  (183G). 


CHAPTER   THIRTEEN 

THE  HEART  OF  MIDLOTHIAN 
" JEANIE  DEANS " 


"  She  has  no  birth, 
No  dowry,  graces ;  no  accomplishments, 
Save  a  pure  cheek,  a  fearless  innocent  brow, 
And  a  true-beating  heart." 

Alexander  Smith. 


CHAPTER  THIRTEEN:  THE  HEART 
OF  MIDLOTHIAN  "JEANIE  DEANS  " 

WITH  ROB  ROY  IN  SIGHT  OF  COMPLETION 

Scott  had  begun  to  work  on  The  Heart  of  Midlothian. 
Comprised  in  four  volumes,  its  publication  was  arrang- 
ed for  the  King's  birthday,  4th  June  1818,  on  which 
date  it  appeared.  The  reception  given  to  the  novel 
in  Edinburgh  was  enthusiastic  beyond  precedent, 
"  such  as  I  never  witnessed  there  on  the  appearance 
of  any  other  literary  novelty,"  says  Lockhart.  People 
were  beginning  to  say  the  author  would  soon  wear 
himself  out,  that  public  interest  was  on  the  wane, 
and  so  forth,  "  Yet  I  am  in  a  house  where  everybody 
is  tearing  it  out  of  each  other's  hands  and  talking 
about  nothing  else,"  wrote  Lady  Louisa  Stuart  in 
August.  By  the  critics  the  tale  was  received  no  less 
cordially.  Walter  Savage  Landor,  who  had  little  good 
to  say  of  Scott's  poetry,  declared  that  in  itself  the 
authorship  of  The  Heart  of  Midlothian  was  sufficient 
to  stamp  Scott  the  most  illustrious  author  of  the 
age. 

In  apportioning  the  Waverley  order  of  merit,  so  far 
as  that  can  be  done,  it  is  possible  to  put  the  novel,  as 
Edward  FitzGerald  has  put  it,  in  the  very  first  place. 
A  criterion  as  sane  as  any  is  that  adopted  by  Professor 
Grant  of  Leeds  :  Scott's  work  is  at  its  best,  first,  when 
it  deals  with  Scottish  life  ;  second,  when  it  brings  pub- 
lic and  private  life  into  relation  with  one  another ;  and 
third,  when  the  lives  of  the  poor  play  an  important 

part .  Judged  by  this,  or  by  any  other  lofty  standard, 
227 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS  :  THE  HEART 

the  palm  may  well  be  given  to  The  Heart  of  Mid- 
lothian. 

The  charm  of  the  story  is  the  simple,  intense  pathos 
that  runs  through  the  whole  of  it.  Its  crowning  glory 
is  the  delineation  of  the  Deans  family — the  pious, 
practical,  heroic  peasant  household  crossed  by  the 
tragedy  of  the  erring  daughter.  One  trembles  to 
think  how  such  a  tragedy  would  have  fared  in  other 
hands  than  Scott's.  "  Had  the  story,"  says  Lady 
Louisa  Stuart  (whose  criticism  is  the  last  word  on 
the  subject),  "  been  conducted  by  other  hands,  Effie 
Deans  would  have  attracted  all  our  concern  and 
sympathy,  Jeanie  only  quiet  approbation.  Whereas 
Jeanie,  without  youth,  beauty,  genius,  warm  pas- 
sions, or  any  other  novel-perfection,  is  here  our  ob- 
ject from  beginning  to  end."  In  fiction  was  there 
ever  (of  her  class)  a  purer  or  a  more  innocent -minded 
damsel  than  Jeanie  Deans,  or  heroine  so  utterly  un- 
conscious of  her  heroism  ?  While  she  lives  and 
moves  and  has  her  being  amid  life's  lowlier  walks, 
there  is  not  one  of  Scott's  women  who  so  merits  the 
old-fashioned  and  all  but  obsolete  title  of  "gentle- 
woman." Jeanie  is  the  essence  of  honesty  and  no- 
bility. Her  absolute  naturalness  is  the  grace  that 
beatifies  her.  She  is  without  charms  and  accom- 
plishments in  the  ordinary  meaning  of  the  words. 
The  most  she  prides  herself  on  is  her  capable  house- 
keeping. To  have  given  the  premier  place  to  in- 
tegrity, unaccompanied  by  beauty  and  fine  words, 

is  a  proof  of  Scott's  power,  and  of  his  right  to 

228 


OF  MIDLOTHIAN        "JEAN1E  DEANS" 

be  ranked  in  the  category  of  great  and  unselfish 
souls. 

Scott's  women  are  mostly  of  the  pretty,  somewhat 
vapid  type.  This  was  due,  we  are  told,  to  the  novel- 
ist's inherent  chivalry — a  chivalry  which  would  not 
permit  him  to  vivisect  womankind — an  operation  of 
interest  to  the  heart  of  Thackeray.  For  women  in 
general,  and  particularly  of  his  own  class,  Scott  enter- 
tained a  very  high  opinion.  He  was  content,  however, 
to  admire  rather  than  to  analyse.  The  result  is  that 
he  gives  us  a  fair  face,  and  nothing  more.  A  few  there 
are,  to  be  sure,  who  stand  out  pre-eminently  from  the 
rank  and  file  of  colourless  amiability,  and  they  are 
either  of  the  peasantry  or  royalty.  Jeanie  Deans  is 
as  striking  a  figure  with  Sir  Walter  as  Queen  Eliza- 
beth is ;  and  Meg  Merrilies  and  Madge  Wildfire  are 
as  supreme  in  their  own  sphere  as  Rebecca  or  Row- 
ena  are  in  theirs.  As  has  been  already  said,  Scott  was 
always  happiest  in  painting  human  nature  from  the 
side  of  the  poor.  That  dash  of  originality  which  is  to 
be  found  chiefly  amongst  them  he  never  allowed  him- 
self to  be  insensible  of.  Hence  the  firm  and  the  kindly 
grip  with  which  the  world  of  common  men  and  women 
has  welcomed  Sir  Walter's  work,  nor  ever  let  it  slip 
away  from  them. 

One  is  not  surprised  to  know  that  of  all  his  hero- 
ines Jeanie  Deans  (by  his  own  confession)  was  Scott's 
favourite  :  "  The  lass  kept  tugging  at  my  heart- 
strings."   Than  that,  Jeanie  could  not  have  a  greater 

compliment  paid  her.  Indirectly,  Scott  did  a  real 
229 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS  :  THE  HEART 

service  to  religion  in  his  characterisation  of  Jeanie 
Deans.  She  is  the  type  of  the  Scot  of  both  sexes 
with  whom  faith  in  the  Unseen  is  the  driving  force. 
The  Scot  says  little  on  the  subject  of  religion,  even  to 
his  dearest  ones.  But  it  is  often  his  dominating  pas- 
sion, lying  at  the  root  of  everything  else.  Jeanie's 
religious  aspirations  are  never  a  theme  of  talk  and 
publicity  on  her  own  part,  but  that  she  is  deeply, 
reverently  devout,  the  outside  world  realises.  She 
is  a  doer,  and  not  a  mere  hearer  of  the  Word.  In  her 
conduct  towards  father  and  mother,  towards  friend 
and  lover,  towards  even  the  ill-disposed  and  the  un- 
charitable, she  approaches  as  near  the  ideal  standard 
as  human  nature  is  capable  of. 

Of  the  other  characters  in  the  story,  Reuben  Butler 
(said  to  be  modelled  from  John  Ramsay,  school- 
master of  Libert  on),  a  quiet,  sensible  country  dominie 
who  blossoms  into  the  minister  of  Knocktarlitie,  is, 
of  course,  entirely  fictitious,  as  the  real  Jeanie  never 
married.  Jeanie's  father, David  Deans,  exhibits  many 
of  the  traits  of  Patrick  Walker,  Cameronian,  and  biog- 
rapher of  the  Saints  of  the  Covenant.  Both  avowedly 
and  unavowedly,  Scott  borrowed  incidents  from  him, 
and  has  frequently  appropriated  his  language  and 
phraseology.  The  tirade  against  dancing,  for  instance 
(chap,  x.),  occurs  in  Patrick's  "Vindication  of  Camer- 
on's Name,"  and  in  a  note  to  the  novel,  the  two  para- 
graphs from  Patrick  are  quoted  in  extenso :  "  I  bless  the 
Lord  that  ordered  my  lot  so  in  my  dancing  days,  that 

madethe  fearof  thebloody  rope  and  bullets  to  myneck 

210 


OF  MIDLOTHIAN        "JEANIE  DEANS" 

and  head,  the  pain  of  boot  s,  thumbikins,  and  irons,  cold 
and  hunger,  wetness  and  weariness,  to  stop  the  light- 
ness of  my  head  and  the  wantonness  of  my  feet." 

There  is  the  sheepish  Dumbiedykes,  and  Rory  Bean, 
and  the  quasi-lawyer,  Bartoline  Saddletree,  that 
prince  of  "bores."  Daddy  Ratcliffe  (not  all  a  de- 
generate), Robertson,  and  Wilson,  were  borrowed  from 
the  incident  of  the  Port  eous  Mob,  thenarrativeof  which 
the  novelist  must  not  be  held  as  rehearsing  with  his- 
torical exactitude.  The  real  Robertson  was  no  dis- 
guised aristocrat,  but  a  common  "stabler  in  Bristo, 
indicted  and  accused  together  with  Andrew  Wilson  of 
Pathhead,  and  William  Hall,  indweller  in  Edinburgh, 
at  the  instance  of  Duncan  Forbes  of  Culloden,  His  Ma- 
jesty's Advocate,  for  the  crimes  of  Stouthrieff,  House- 
breaking, and  Robbery."  It  was  hardly  a  happy  ex- 
pedient to  evolve  a  baronetcy  from  so  unexpected  a 
quarter  as  that  of  a  Bristo  innkeeper.  And,  indeed, 
the  whole  part  of  George  Robertson,  or  Staunton,  is 
extravagant  and  unreal,  whilst  the  denouement,  as  al- 
most every  reader  is  agreed,  well-nigh  spoils  the  story. 

II 

For  thirteen  years — from  1814  to  1827 — anony- 
mity put  an  embargo  on  Scott.  So  long  as  he  re- 
mained behind  the  scenes,  acknowledgment  of  literary 
indebtedness  was  impossible.  But  the  moment  the 
curtain  was  lifted,  obligations  were  pleasantly  paid. 
First  and  foremost  (see  Introduction  to  Chronicles  of 

the  Canongate)  the  unwearied  industry  of  Joseph  Train 
231 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS  :  THE  HEART 

was  handsomely  acknowledged.  Next,  followed  a 
tribute  of  gratitude  to  the  lady  who  sent  Scott  the 
information  about  Jeanie  Deans's  prototype.  The 
particulars  were  furnished  anonymously,  and  made  a 
deep  impression  on  Scott .  Pleased  with  the  reception 
given  to  Jeanie's  portraiture,  he  tells  us  how  much 
of  its  success  was  owing  to  the  truth  and  force  of  the 
original  sketch,  which  "  I  regret  I  am  unable  to  pre- 
sent to  the  public,  as  it  was  written  with  much  feel- 
ing and  spirit . "  In  the  magnum  opus,  however,  Scott 
was  able  to  reveal  the  name  of  his  "  obliging  corre- 
spondent," and  to  print  her  communication.  She  was 
the  wife  (maiden  name,  Helen  Lawson,  Girthhead)  of 
Thomas  Goldie  of  Craigmuie,  Commissary  of  Dum- 
fries. Mrs.  Goldie's  narrative  may  be  thus  summar- 
ised :  In  the  year  1790  she  was  spending  a  holiday 
near  Lincluden  Abbey.  Whilst  there,  acquaintance 
was  made  with  a  little,  stoutish  woman  called  Helen 
Walker,  respecting  whose  earlier  history  Mrs.  Goldie 
was  afterwards  made  aware  of  some  interesting  and 
striking  facts.  Helen  lived  alone,  eking  out  a  slender 
livelihood  by  knitting  stockings  and  keeping  poultry. 
She  is  said  to  have  taught  a  side-school  at  one  time. 
Helen  was  now  old  and  frail,  her  long  life  approaching 
its  close.  More  than  fifty  years  previous  to  Mrs.  Gol- 
die's narrative,  Helen's  sister,  Isobel,  had  been  tried 
for  the  crime  of  child-murder,  and  Helen  was  chief 
witness  in  the  case.  Counsel  for  the  defence  did  his 
utmost  to  impress  upon  her  the  necessity  of  affirm- 
ing that  she  had  been  in  Isobel's  confidence.     But 

232 


OF  MIDLOTHIAN        "JEANIE  DEANS" 

all  to  no  purpose.  Helen  pleaded  entire  ignorance 
of  the  affair,  and  asserted  that  it  was  impossible  for 
her  to  swear  falsely.  Be  the  consequences  what  they 
might,  she  could  not  give  her  oath  against  her  con- 
science. The  trial  came  on :  Isobel  Walker  was  found 
guilty,  and  condemned.  Immediately  afterwards 
Helen  got  a  petition  drawn  up  in  her  sister's  behalf, 
and  set  out  on  foot  for  London  (a  more  formidable 
venture  then  than  going  to  America  is  to-day).  She 
reached  the  metropolis  within  a  fortnight  or  so,  where 
she  made  appeal  to  John,  Duke  of  Argyll,  through 
whose  instrumentality  the  prayer  of  the  petition  was 
granted.  Helen  returned  home,  arriving  in  the  nick 
of  time  to  save  her  sister's  life.  About  the  whole 
circumstances  Helen  was  singularly  reticent.  The 
subject  was  distasteful.  "None  of  the  neighbours 
durst  question  her  about  it."  Mrs.  Goldie  inquired  of 
an  old  woman  who  lived  at  the  other  end  of  Helen's 
cottage  if  Helen  ever  spoke  of  the  incident.  "No," 
said  she,  "she  aye  turned  the  conversation  if  ever  any 
o'  the  neebours  happened  to  mention  it." 

From  M'Diarmid's  "  The  Real  History  of  Jeanie 
Deans"  in  Sketches  from  Nature  (1830),  we  learn  that 
Helen  Walker  was  the  daughter  of  [William]  Walker, 
a  day-labourer  at  Cluden,  in  the  Covenanting  parish 
of  Kirkpatrick-Irongray,  Kirkcudbrightshire.  Scott 
says  (Postcript  following  Introduction)  that  she  was 
"  the  daughter  of  the  farmer  of  Dalwhairn,"  but  that 
is  a  mistake,  the  result  of  a  careless  reading  of  M'Diar- 
mid's statement .  M'Diarmid  does  not  say  that  Helen 
233 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS  !  THE  HEART 

resided  at  Dalwhairn,  but  that  Elizabeth  Grierson, 
his  informant,  resided  there,  who  in  her  girlhood  was 
well  acquainted  with  Helen. 

The  sisters  Walker  (there  is  no  mention  of  bro- 
thers) with  their  mother,  a  widow,  and  delicate,  lived 
together  at  Cluden.  Helen  and  Isobel  were  out-  or 
field-workers.  There  is  no  tradition  of  domestic  ser- 
vice for  either  of  them.  All  accounts  agree  in  de- 
scribing Helen,  who  was  considerably  the  elder  of  the 
two,  as  a  woman  of  strong,  even  remarkable  char- 
acter for  one  in  her  so  humble  position.  M'Diarmid 
says  that  "  her  conversational  powers  were  of  a  high 
order,  her  language  most  correct,  ornate  and  pointed, 
her  deportment  sedate  and  dignified  in  the  extreme." 
To  some, indeed, she  was  "a  pensy  body,"  that  is, con- 
ceited or  proud  ;  but  her  shy,  retiring  disposition 
may  have  led  to  that  idea.  She  was  a  deeply  religi- 
ous woman,  a  diligent  student  of  the  Scriptures,  and 
a  devout  and  regular  worshipper  in  the  parish  kirk. 

It  was  about  the  end  of  1736  that  the  terrible  blow 
fell  on  the  Walker  family.  Isobel,  a  girl  barely  out 
of  her  teens,  was  betrayed  by  a  youth  named  Waugh, 
and  denied  to  the  last  the  rumour  as  to  her  condition. 
The  neighbours,  however,  suspected  that  a  child  had 
been  born.  Isobel  was  deaf  to  all  entreaties  to  con- 
fess, albeit  confronted  with  the  body  of  a  dead  infant 
found  shortly  afterwards  by  the  bank  of  the  Cluden 
Water.  She  was  remitted  to  the  authorities  for  trial 
— a  trial  which,  under  the  circumstances,  could  have 

but  one  ending. 

234 


OF  MIDLOTHIAN        "JEANIE  DEANS" 

It  is  in  the  denouement  that  interest  centres,  and 
this,  with  embellishing  differences,  is  powerfully  de- 
picted in  the  novel.  There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  the 
authenticity  of  the  story.    That  Helen  Walker  em- 
barked on  her  voluntary  mission  of  mercy  to  London 
town — tramping  all  the  way — seems  as  true  to  the  facts 
of  tradition  as  that  a  person  bearing  her  name  was 
buried  beneath  the  shadow  of  Irongray  Kirk,  or  that 
Irongray  Kirk  rears  its  head  above  the  clear  stream  of 
the  Cluden.     The  details  of  Helen's  interview  with 
Argyll  and  the  petition  itself  have  not  been  forth- 
coming.   But  the  Report  embodied  in  the  Records  of 
Justiciary  appears  to  corroborate  the  main  facts  of 
the  case.   One  must,  of  course,  read  between  the  lines. 
The  chief  trouble  is  with  the  trial  itself.  The  popular 
imagination  (based  on  the  novel)  has  raised  Jeanie 
Deans  to  the  most  conspicuous  place  in  that  memor- 
able and  moving  spectacle.    Upon  Jeanie  is  laid  the 
burden,  not  so  much  of  disproving  Erne's  guilt  as  of 
being  able  to  present  a  palliation  for  the  offence  with 
which  she  stood  indicted.  And  though  in  the  romance 
Jeanie  goes  into  the  witness-box,  there  is  no  lifting  of 
the  shadow  from  her  unhappy  sister's  fate. 

Now  in  the  Report  of  the  trial  of  Isobel  Walker 
contained  in  the  Book  of  Adjournal  no  light  whatever 
is  cast  upon  Helen's  position.  Helen  does  not  appear 
on  the  scene  at  all.  There  is  no  witness  of  that  name, 
unless  she  is  the  Emelia  Walker  *  who  advances  speci- 

*  Jeanie  had  an  aunt  so  named.  Could  she  have  been  the 
witness  ?     Her  descendants  are  in  Canada. 

235 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS  :  THE  HEART 

ally  strong  evidence  against  Isobel,  a  supposition 
which  is  untenable.  The  probability  is  that  in  the 
course  of  the  precognitions,  the  friends  of  Isobel  had 
completely  failed  to  win  Helen  to  their  view  of  the 
situation.  Only  one  thing  could  save  their  client — the 
establishment  of  a  case  of  concealment.  But  to  that, 
Helen,  who  alone  could  be  of  service,  would  not 
consent.  Thus  Helen  Walker  had  no  summons  to  the 
witness-box.  The  invalid  state  of  the  mother  (who 
is  referred  to  by  witnesses)  may  possibly  explain  her 
absence.  That  appears  to  be  the  only  explanation  of 
the  serious  discrepancy  between  Mrs.  Goldie's  narra- 
tive and  the  authoritative  account  of  the  proceedings 
at  Dumfries.  It  is  curious  to  find  a  considerable  inter- 
val intervening  between  Isobel's  first  appearance  at 
Dumfries  and  her  last.  The  first  date  given  is  2nd 
May  1737.  The  child's  body  had  been  washed  up  by 
the  Cluden  in  October  1736,  and  the  trial  (see  Ap- 
pendix) took  place  1st  May  1738,  more  than  a  year 
and  a  half  after  the  discovery  of  the  crime — an  ex- 
traordinary travesty  of  justice,  it  must  be  allowed. 

Of  Isobel  Walker's  subsequent  career  little  is  known. 
She  married  Waugh,  and  spent  the  remainder  of  her 
life  at  Whitehaven .  Helen  clung  to  sweet  and  pastoral 
Irongray .  She  resumed  her  quiet ,  rural  employments , 
and  after  a  life  of  "  unsullied  integrity,"  died  in  a 
cottage  known  as  Knowehead  (now  extinct)  about  the 
end  of  1 79 1,  having  entered  her  eighty-first  year. 
Mrs.  Goldie,  profoundly  touched  with  the  story,  and 

the  sterling  character  of  the  woman,  resolved  to  erect 

236 


' 


/  L 


OF  MIDLOTHIAN        "JEANIE  DEANS" 

a  stone  to  her  memory  in  Irongray  churchyard,  but 
died  before  her  wish  could  be  accomplished.  Her 
daughter,  Miss  Jean  Goldie,  invited  Scott  to  write 
the  inscription,  and  offered  to  collect  money  to  carry 
out  her  mother's  intention.  Scott  intimated  that  he 
would  do  it  all  himself.  He  arranged  with  William 
Burn,  an  Edinburgh  architect,  as  to  the  most  suitable 
kind  of  monument  *  and  the  inscription  is  in  his  own 
noble  and  deathless  words  : 

THIS  STONE  WAS  ERECTED 

BY  THE  AUTHOR  OF  WAVERLEY 

TO  THE  MEMORY 

OF 

HELEN  WALKER, 

WHO  DIED  IN  THE  YEAR  OF  GOD  I79I 

THIS  HUMBLE  INDIVIDUAL 

PRACTISED  IN  REAL  LIFE 

THE  VIRTUES 

WITH  WHICH  FICTION  HAS  INVESTED 

THE  IMAGINARY  CHARACTER  OF 

JEANIE  DEANS ; 

REFUSING  THE  SLIGHTEST  DEPARTURE 

FROM  VERACITY, 

EVEN  TO  SAVE  THE  LIFE  OF  A  SISTER, 

SHE  NEVERTHELESS  SHOWED  HER 

KINDNESS  AND  FORTITUDE, 

IN  RESCUING  HER 

FROM  THE  SEVERITY  OF  THE  LAW, 

AT  THE  EXPENSE  OF  PERSONAL  EXERTIONS 

WHICH  THE  TIME  RENDERED  AS  DIFFICULT 

AS  THE  MOTIVE  WAS  LAUDABLE. 

RESPECT  THE  GRAVE  OF  POVERTY 

WHEN  COMBINED  WITH  LOVE  OF  TRUTH 

AND  DEAR  AFFECTION. 


*  The  monument  is  a  handsome  table  stone,  not  a  "  little  pillar 
as  Lockhart  has  it. 
237 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS  :  THE  HEART 

Three  letters  of  Scott's  (hitherto  unpublished)  on 
the  subject  of  Jeanie  Deans,  bear  further  testimony 
to  the  courteous,  generous  character  of  Jeanie's 
creator  : 

To  Walter  Dickson,  Esq.,  W.S. 

Dear  Sir,— I  learned  from  Mr.  Gibson  that  it  was 
from  your  mother-in-law,  Mrs.  Goldie,  that  Ireceived 
the  very  interesting  anonymousfavour  which  enabled 
me  to  produce  to  the  public  the  efficient  and  interest- 
ing character  of  Jeanie  Deans,  as  I  have  christened 
her  most  respectable  friend  Helen  Walker.    I  would 
have  taken  the  liberty  to  publish  her  very  interest- 
ing and  simple  narrative — for  I  have  it  by  me — but 
I  make  it  a  kind  of  rule  not  to  publish  even  anony- 
mous letters  for  fear  of  giving  offence.    I  hope  Mrs. 
Goldie  will  add  to  the  great  favour  she  has  done  me 
by  permitting  me,  when  time  and  opportunity  occur, 
to  publish  her  own  simple  narrative,  with  anything 
concerning  the  history  of  Helen  Walker  which  can 
yet  be  procured.     I  would  have  addressed  my  per- 
sonal thanks  and  request  to  Mrs.  Goldie  herself,  and 
still  hope  to  do  so.     But  I  wished  to  transfer  them, 
in  the  first  instance  to  you,  mainly  to  show  you  that 
I  have  been  sorry  for  having  shown  some  ill-humour 
when  we  last  met,  which  I  am  sure  you  will  excuse, 
under  the  circumstances  of  my  situation,  which  were 
irritating  for  the  moment  and  no  longer. 

Aslsometimes  go  to  Dumfriesshire,  Ihope  to  make 
Mrs.  Goldie's  personal  acquaintance  and  thank  her 

238 


OF  MIDLOTHIAN        "JEANIE  DEANS" 

in  person  for  the  favour  she  conferred  on  me.   Had 
I  known  where  to  address  my  acknowledgments,  they 
would  not  have  been  so  long  due. 
I  am,  Dear  Sir, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

Walter  Scott. 
2jth  October  1827. 

To  the  Rev.  David  Dow,  minister  of 
Kirkpatrick-Irongray . 

Reverend  Sir, 

Begging  your  excuse  for  the  intrusion,  I  am  about 
to  request  your  permission  and  that  of  your  Kirk  Ses- 
sion to  erect  a  simple  monument  in  the  Church-yard 
of  Kirkpatrick-Irongrayto  a  poor  woman  of  the  name 
of  Walker  respectable  in  her  time  for  an  act  of  great 
worth  and  fortitude.  The  late  Mrs.  Goldie,  wife  of  the 
Commissary  of  Dumfries,  sent  me  the  anecdote  for  the 
purpose  of  its  being  used  in  a  fictitious  composition 
named  [termed?]  the  Heart  of  Mid  Lothian  and  as  it 
was  her  peculiar  wish  that  Helen  Walker's  grave 
should  be  marked  by  a  tomb-stone  I  conceive  I  shall 
but  show  my  respect  to  her  memory  by  discharging 
the  duty  which  she  earnestly  desired.  I  hope,  Revd. 
Sir,  you  will  be  pleased  to  grant  your  consent  to  what 
is  proposed.  I  propose  a  sarcophagus  as  the  shape  of 
the  monument  which  shall  be  begun  so  soon  as  I  have 
received  your  answer  [&]  Mr.  Burn  architect  draws 
the  plan.  If  your  register  affords  the  date  of  Helen 
239 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

Walker's  interment  perhaps  you  will  have  the  good- 
ness to  mention  it.    I  am  Reverend  Sir, 
With  respect, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

Walter  Scott. 
Edinburgh,  $th  March  1830. 

My  address  is  Sir  Walter  Scott,  Bart.,  Shandwick 
Place,  Edinburgh. 

To  William  Burn,  Architect. 

My  Dear  Sir, 

I  enclose  the  inscription  intended  for  Helen  Walker, 
which  you  will  be  so  good  as  to  commit  to  Mr.  Ram- 
say's care.  Mr.  Cadell  will  pay  him  all  expenses 
whenever  he  reports  that  the  monument  is  complete 
and  place  it  to  my  accompt : 

I  entreat  your  kind  attention  to  this  if  you  think 
any  moral  is  necessary. 

Respect  the  grave  of  Poverty 

when  combined  with  the 

Love  of  Truth  and  Dear  Affection. 

[best] 
This  just  as  you  think  [but]  having  no  time  to  cor- 
rect it  as.I  expect  to  set  sail  on  Tuesday.  Ihavewritten 
Mr.  Cadell  on  the  subject.  Mr.  Walter  Dickson  took 
some  share  in  erection  of  the  monument  and  I  dare 
say  would  give  a  look  at  the  work. 
I  am  always  yours, 

With  best  wishes, 

Walter  Scott. 
London,  13th  October  1831. 


J. 


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CHAPTER   FOURTEEN 

THE  HEART  OF  MIDLOTHIAN 
"MADGE   WILDFIRE" 


'  There  Madness  enters  ;  and  the  dim-ey'd  Fiend, 
Sour  Melancholy,  night  and  day  provokes 
Her  own  eternal  wound." 

Armstrong. 


CHAPTER  FOURTEEN 

THE  HEART  OF  MIDLOTHIAN 
"  MADGE  WILDFIRE  " 

IN  THE  HEART  OF  MIDLOTHIAN,  MADGE 
Wildfire  was  Meg  Murdockson's  insane  daughter — 
"  a  tall,  strapping  wench  of  eighteen  or  twenty,  dress- 
ed fantastically  in  a  sort  of  blue  riding-coat  with  tar- 
nished lace,  her  hair  clubbed  like  that  of  a  man ;  a 
Highland  bonnet  and  a  bunch  of  broken  feathers  ;  a 
riding-skirt  or  petticoat  of  scarlet  camlet  embroider- 
ed with  tarnished  flowers.  Her  features  were  coarse 
and  masculine,  yet  at  a  little  distance,  by  dint  of  very 
bright,  wild-looking  black  eyes,  an  aquiline  nose  and 
a  commanding  profile,  appeared  rather  handsome." 
Her  cognomen  was  derived  from  the  song  so  fre- 
quently on  her  lips  : 

"  I  glance  like  the  wildfire  through  country  and  town, 
I'm  seen  on  the  causeway — I'm  seen  on  the  down  ; 
The  lightning  that  flashes  so  bright  and  so  free, 
Is  scarcely  so  blithe  or  so  bonny  as  me." 

Madge  is  one  of  the  most  original  of  Scott's  char- 
acters. Coleridge  pronounced  her  "the  most  original." 
She  is  a  sort  of  Scottish  Ophelia.  Indeed  the  part 
played  by  this  dreamy  and  liberty-loving  child  of  na- 
ture, this  loquacious  and  melodramatic  waif  of  the 
dews  and  night -winds,  is  just  what  Shakespeare  might 
have  conceived,  or  Goethe,  in  whose  Margaret  the  mad- 
ness of  Madge  Wildfire  has  its  parallel,  both  of  them 
lamenting  the  lost  bairn.  Madge's  death-scene  is  in- 
describably touching,  and  the  words  with  which  she 
243 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS  !  THE  HEART 

sings  life  away  are  among  the  finest  things  Scott  ever 
wrote,  the  sweetest  and  wildest  of  his  lyrics  : 

"  Proud  Maisie  is  in  the  wood, 
Walking  so  early ; 
Sweet  Robin  sits  on  the  bush, 
Singing  so  rarely. 

•  Tell  me,  thou  bonny  bird, 

When  shall  I  marry  me  ? ' 
'  When  six  braw  gentlemen 

Kirkward  shall  carry  ye.' 

'  Who  makes  the  bridal  bed, 

Birdie,  say  truly  ? ' — 
'  The  grey-headed  sexton 

That  delves  the  grave  duly.' 

The  glow-worm  o'er  grave  and  stone 

Shall  light  thee  steady ; 
The  owl  from  the  steeple  sing, 

'  Welcome,  proud  lady.'  " 

Probably  all  that  can  be  known  of  Madge's  story 
will  be  found  in  the  author's  notes  appended  to  the 
novel.  Madge  was  modelled  (with  differences)  from 
Feckless  Fannie  (i.e.  feeble  or  weak-minded  Fannie), 
a  curious,  crazed,  pathetic  figure  who  wandered  the 
country  far  and  near  about  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  Joseph  Train  collected  all  the  available 
information  about  her.  Wherever  she  went  she  was 
known  as  the  "  wife  with  the  sheep  "  from  being  ac- 
companied by  a  number  of  sheep,  whose  faculties 
seemed  to  be  much  superior  to  those  of  their  kind. 
Each  member  of  the  flock  went  by  its  own  name,  to 
which  it  answered  and  obeyed  in  the  most  surprising 
manner  the  command  of  its  mistress.     Eastern-like, 

Fannie's  sheep  followed  her  footsteps,  and  her  nights 

244 


OF  MIDLOTHIAN  "  MADGE  WILDFIRE" 

were  spent  in  the  open,  surrounded  by  her  strange 
charge.  She  had  her  favourite  resting-places  which 
even  the  sheep  knew  as  well  as  she;  at  Cumnock  and 
Moffat  these  are  still  pointed  out.  In  person  she  was 
about  the  middle  height,  her  features  were  sharp  and 
thin,  and  about  her  eyes  there  was  a  wild  unnatural 
gleam  when  provoked.  When  treated  kindly,  she  was 
gentle  and  docile.  Unlike  other  demented  creatures 
Fannie  was  not  fond  of  finery  (though  Madge  Wildfire 
was).  On  her  head  she  wore  an  old  slouch  hat,  over 
her  shoulders  was  an  old  plaid,  and  the  shepherd's 
crook  was  constantly  in  her  hand.  She  was  said  to 
be  the  only  daughter  of  a  rich  squire  in  the  North  of 
England.  Having  fallen  in  love  with  a  shepherd  of 
the  district  she  incurred  the  anger  of  her  parent,  who 
drew  his  pistol  and  shot  dead  the  unfortunate  herds- 
man. The  shock  unhinged  the  girl's  mind,  and  taking 
up  the  crook,  plaid  and  hat  of  her  hapless  lover,  along 
with  a  few  of  his  sheep,  she  proceeded  to  move  about 
from  place  to  place,  nor  could  she  be  persuaded  to 
return  to  her  friends  or  avail  herself  of  the  shelter  of 
a  home  during  her  peregrinations.  Fannie  is  said  to 
have  been  done  to  death  by  a  crowd  of  Glasgow 
youths,  but  there  is  no  mention  of  any  Trial,  which, 
as  Scott  says,  would  certainly  have  taken  place  had 
her  death  occurred  in  the  manner  indicated. 

In  the  Melrose  district,  Whirlybet  Meg  (Betty 
Grahamslaw),  a  harmless  maniac  who  lived  in  the 
locality,  has  been  mentioned  as  a  possible  Original  of 
Madge  Wildfire. 


CHAPTER   FIFTEEN 

THE  BRIDE  OF  LAMMERMOOR 
"LUCY    ASHTON" 


"  Love  had,  like  the  canker-worm, 
Consumed  her  early  prime  : 
The  rose  grew  pale,  and  left  her  cheek — 
She  died  before  her  time." 

Mallet. 


CHAPTER  FIFTEEN:  THE  BRIDE  OF 
LAMMERMOOR     "  LUCY  ASHTON  " 

THE  GENESIS  OF  THAT  FINEST  OF  TRAGIC 

tales,  The  Bride  of  Lammermoor,  presents  an  inter- 
esting psychological  problem.  When  it  was  written, 
Scott  was  supposed  to  be  dying.  He  suffered  from  a 
form  of  illness  which  allowed  him  little  or  no  rest  the 
twenty-four  hours  through.  He  was  obliged  to  fall 
back  on  opiates,  in  copious  doses  every  two  or  three 
hours,  and  it  was  whilst  practically  under  the  influ- 
ence of  these  that  the  whole  of  The  Bride  was  penned. 
That  is  to  say,  Laidlaw  and  John  Ballantyne  took 
the  chapters  down  from  Scott's  dictation — a  liter- 
ary feat  without  parallel,  in  the  circumstances.  Here 
is  proof  of  the  great  modern  doctrine  that  mind  is 
everything — that  mind  and  spirit  may  triumph  over 
the  weakest  frame,  over  the  severest  bodily  torture. 
Scott  declared  to  Ballantyne  that  he  did  not  recollect 
a  single  incident,  or  character,  or  conversation  the 
novel  contained,  and  when  he  saw  the  first  copies  he 
feared  to  read  lest  something  grotesque  and  stupid 
should  meet  his  eye.  But  to  many  The  Bride  is  the 
best  of  Scott's  romances,  notwithstanding  the  almost 
absolute  melancholy  which  hovers  around  it  from  first 
to  last .  In  style  it  is  the  most  finished,  most  emotional, 
most  Homeric  of  the  series ;  and  dramatised  as  in 
Donizetti's  great  opera,  none  has  been  more  popular. 
In  fiction  there  are  few  better-known  plots  than 
that  of  The  Bride  of  Lammermoor.    Scott  tells  us  he 

heard  the  story  from  friends  of  his  own  who  lived 

249 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS   !    THE  BRIDE 

very  near  the  period,  and  were  closely  related  to  the 
family  of  the  Bride.  He  heard  the  story  from  Anne 
Murray  Keith,  and  from  Will  Clerk,  who  was  great - 
grand-nephew  of  the  Bride,  and  himself  one  of  Scott's 
numerous  Scotch  cousins.  Itwasfromhis  own  mother, 
however,  that  Scott  listened,  not  once  nor  twice,  to  a 
recital  of  the  ever-moving  tragedy.  She  lived  just 
long  enough  to  discuss  upon  her  death-bed  the  differ- 
ence between  her  son's  fiction  and  the  tale  as  she 
knew  it.  He  was  reluctant,  he  says,  "  to  disclose  the 
origin  of  the  unhappy  incident  from  a  fear  of  offend- 
ing the  descendants  of  the  parties."  It  was  probably 
for  the  like  reason  that  he  transferred  the  scene  to 
the  east  of  Scotland  from  the  south-west,  where  the 
events  are  said  to  have  occurred.  Some  time,  however, 
previous  to  the  appearance  of  the  novel,  attention  had 
been  drawn  to  the  affair  in  one  of  KirkpatrickSharpe's 
notes  to  the  Rev.  Robert  Law's  quaint  Memorials  of 
the  Memorable  Things  that  fell  out  within  this  Island 
of  Britain  from  1638  to  1684.  And  in  Symson  of  Kirk- 
inner's  Poems  there  is  a  somewhat  cryptic  reference 
to  the  tragedy.  So  that  when  Scott  wrote  the  Intro- 
duction to  the  Chronicles  of  the  Canongate  (1827),  in 
which  he  deprecates  publicity  for  the  family's  sake, 
the  story  was  well  enough  known.  Wide  credence 
had  been  given  to  it  not  only  in  Wigtownshire  but 
throughout  Scotland.  Like  most  tales  of  mystery, 
in  which  the  circumstances  have  never  clearly  been 
brought  to  light,  this  Bride's  tragedy  has  been  the 

subject  of  many  variations.    What  was  its  precise 

250 


OF  LAMMERMOOR    "LUCY  ASHTON  " 

nature  has  not  and  cannot  be  expiscated  now.  It  is 
unlikely  that  it  followed,  even  approximately,  the  par- 
ticular line  taken  in  the  novel.  Indeed,  very  strong 
evidence  exists  against  the  probability  of  the  whole 
story,  which  may  never  have  rested  on  anything 
more  substantial  than  gossip's  airy  asseverations  : 

"  The  flying  rumour  gathered  as  it  rolledj 
And  all  who  told  it  added  something  new, 
And  all  who  heard  it  made  enlargements  too." 

In  Paterson's  Lands  and  their  Owners  in  Galloway 
and  Murray's  Literary  History  of  Galloway  the  affair 
is  regarded  as  purely  fabulous ;  and,  as  we  shall  see, 
there  is  no  contemporary  corroboration  for  the  facts 
as  alleged. 

The  title  of  the  novel  connects  itself  with  the  coun- 
ties of  Berwick  and  Haddington.  Attempts  have 
been  made  to  identify  actual  scenes  and  localities 
with  those  described  in  the  story.  This,  of  course,  is 
hopeless  and  unprofitable  guess-work.  Such  was 
Scott's  use  of  poetic  licence  that  the  locale  was  only 
a  secondary  arrangement.  All  through  the  Waver- 
leys,  Scott  plays  ducks  and  drakes  with  history,  with 
locality  and  scenery  alike,  just  as  in  these  chapters 
we  see  the  composite  character  of  his  portraiture 
with  regard  to  individuals.  Nevertheless,  there  is 
no  end  to  the  identifying  process.  Winton  House, 
in  Haddingtonshire,  is  confidently  spoken  of  as 
the  Ravenswood  of  The  Bride  of  Lammermoor.  A 
wood  close  by  is  pointed  to  as  the  spot  where  fate 
brought  Lucy  Ashton  and  the  Master  so  dramatically 
251 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS   ;   THE  BRIDE 

together.  A  site  has  been  found  for  the  Tod's  Den, 
where  Bucklaw  and  Craigengelt  waited  Edgar's  re- 
turn. Pencaitland  Kirk  becomes  the  scene  of  the 
wedding  and  burial  of  the  poor,  distracted  Bride. 
Another  set  of  identifiers  incline  to  the  belief  that 
Cranshaws  Castle  in  the  heart  of  the  Lammermoors 
is  the  true  original  of  the  ancient  seat  of  the  Ravens- 
woods.  The  very  name  is  suggestive — Cranshaws 
(Cranewoods).  Here,  too,  is  the  Ravens'  Scaur,  and 
does  not  the  little  Inn  at  Ellem  approximate  to  the 
Tod's  Den  ?  A  further  resemblance  is  seen  in  the 
broken  fortunes  of  the  Swinton  family,  which  forced 
them  to  part  with  Cranshaws,  their  ancestral  property. 
Others,  with  equal  certainty,  regard  Cockburnspath 
Tower,  Yester  House,  Garvald  Tower,  and  Crichton 
Castle,  as  antitypes  of  Ravenswood.  Some  curious 
coincidences  may  be  observed  respecting  Wedderlea 
House  at  the  base  of  the  Lammermoors,  on  the 
Berwickshire  side.  The  Laird  of  Wedderlea  was  an 
Edgar.  Against  the  Wolf's  Crag  may  be  put  Wolf- 
struther  (now  Westruther),  the  parish  in  which  Wed- 
derlea is  situated.  Edgar  of  Ravenswood  was  related 
to  the  Humes,  the  Douglases,  and  the  Swintons,  as 
was  Edgar  of  Wedderlea.  Still  more  remarkable,  the 
families  were  connected  with  that  of  Chiesley,  and 
at  the  same  period.  The  Ravenswoods  were  involved 
in  a  litigation  in  which  Chiesley  was  implicated,  while 
from  the  Court  of  Session's  Decisions  at  the  time  of 
the  tale,  Edgar  of  Wedderlea  had  a  bitter  law-suit  with 

Chiesley  the  tutor  of  his  father's  younger  children. 

252 


OF  LAMMERMOOR    "LUCY  ASHTON" 

Edgar  of  Wedderlea  was  impoverished  by  his  opposi- 
tion to  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Edgar  Ravenswood 
opposed  its  minister  at  his  father's  funeral.  Both 
families  were  turbulent,  and  both  were  brought  to 
ruin  by  espousing  the  losing  cause.  Scott  himself  is 
all  but  silent  as  to  identifications.  The  most  he  is 
willing  to  admit  is  a  likeness  between  Fast  Castle  and 
the  imaginary  Wolf's  Crag.  "  But  fortalices  of  this 
description  are  common  to  the  eastern  coast  of  Scot- 
land " :  elsewhere  he  states  that  the  Kaim  of  Urie 
suggested  an  idea  "  for  the  tower  called  Wolf's  Crag, 
which  the  public  more  generally  identified  with  the 
ancient  tower  of  Fast  Castle." 

Coming  to  the  romance  itself,  the  venue  of  the  grim 
tragedy  on  which  it  rests  is  the  county  of  Wigtown. 
Once  on  a  time  the  Kennedys  were  the  great  masters 
and  lords  of  the  shire  : 

"  'Tvvixt  Wigtown  and  the  toun  of  Ayr, 
Portpatrick  and  the  Cruives  of  Cree, 
No  man  need  think  for  to  bide  there 
Unless  he  court  with  Kennedie." 

When  the  reign  of  the  Kennedys  was  at  an  end 
they  were  followed  by  the  scarcely  less  influential  sept 
of  the  Dalrymples,  Earls  of  Stair,  "  whose  family  his- 
tory," says  Lord  Macaulay,  "  has  furnished  poets  and 
novelists  with  material  for  the  darkest  and  most  heart- 
rending tales."  This  was  specially  true  of  Viscount 
Stair's  family,  the  lawyer  whose  Institutes  remain- 
ed for  more  than  two  centuries  the  standard  work  on 
Scottish  Jurisprudence.  Born  in  1619,  James  Dal- 
rymple  was  the  eldest  son  of  the  Laird  of  Drummur- 
253 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS    :    THE  BRIDE 

chie  and  Stair,  the  original  Ayrshire  seats  of  the  Dal- 
rymples.  He  studied  at  Glasgow  University ,  was  M.A. 
in  1637,  and  the  first  graduate  of  his  time.  He  ac- 
cepted a  commission  in  the  Earl  of  Glencairn's  regi- 
ment supporting  the  Covenant.  In  passing  through 
Glasgow,  he  found  that  the  Chair  of  Philosophy  was 
vacant  and  open  to  public  competition.  He  became  a 
candidate,  and  without  doffing  his  regimentals  sat  for 
the  examination  and  was  successful.  The  art  of  war 
he  forsook  for  the  study  of  philosophy — Mars  for  Min- 
erva. He  took  up  his  abode  in  Glasgow,  and  married 
Margaret  Ross  of  Balniel.  On  the  death  of  his  father- 
in-law  in  1655,  he  and  his  wife  were  served  heir  to  the 
adjoining  estates  of  Balniel  and  Carscreugh,  and  thus 
it  was  that  the  Dalrymples  first  became  connected 
with  Wigtownshire.  In  1648,  James  Dalrymple  was 
admitted  a  member  of  the  Faculty  of  Advocates.  He 
quickly  attained  honours  in  his  profession.  Within 
nine  years  he  was  a  Lord  of  Session,  and  in  1671  be- 
came President  of  the  Court.  He  was  a  Knight,  a 
Baronet,  and,  in  1690,  a  Viscount.  His  death  took 
place  on  23rd  November  1695.  By  Margaret  Ross  he 
had  a  numerous  family.  Interest  centres  on  his  eldest 
daughter,  Janet  Dalrymple,  the  original  of  Scott's 
Bride,  who,  according  to  the  popular  tradition,  stab- 
bed her  bridegroom  on  their  wedding  night  and  died  a 
few  days  afterwards,  a  grinning  maniac. 

Such  is  the  story  embodied  in  Scott's  romance.  It 
is  curious  to  find  so  exact  a  historian  as  Macaulay  re- 
porting as  a  fact  of  history  an  episode  which  never 

254 


OF  LAMMERMOOR    "LUCY  ASHTON  " 

occurred.  In  blackest  colours  he  paints  the  character 
of  Stair,  and  says  "  one  of  his  daughters  poinarded 
her  bridegroom  on  their  wedding  night."  * 

The  suggestion  that  Stair's  daughter  murdered  her 
husband  is  contrary  to  the  facts  of  the  case.  It  is 
more  than  likely,  however,  that  something  untoward 
did  happen  in  connection  with  the  marriage,  for  Scott's 
and  Macaulay's  is  not  the  sole  tradition,  and  tradi- 
tions more  or  less  similar  could  hardly  have  originat- 
ed without  cause  unless,  indeed,  we  are  to  discern  a 
clue  in  the  fierce  antagonism  to  the  Dalrymples  which 
obtained  in  some  quarters.  What  of  truth  is  in  the 
matter  it  is  difficult  now  to  say.  Stair's  old  pupil 
Law,  the  minister  of  Inchinnan  (already  mentioned), 
declares  in  his  Memorials — a  hair-raising  record  of 
supernatural  occurrences — that  the  "President  had  a 
daughter  who,  being  married,  the  night  she  was  bride 
in,  was  taken  from  her  bridegroom  and  harled  [tossed 
about]  through  the  house  [by  spirits  we  are  to  sup- 
pose], and  soon  afterwards  died."  Kirkpatrick  Sharpe, 
the  Jacobite  editor  of  Law's  book,  gives  two  versions 
of  the  tale  which  contradict  each  other  in  the  material 
point — who  was  the  actor  in  the  tragedy.  In  the  first 
of  these,  it  was  the  bridegroom  who  wounded  the  bride 
— the  bridegroom  who  was  "  found  in  a  state  of  idi- 
ocy." The  marriage  had  been  against  the  mother's 
inclination,  whose  consent  was  given  with  the  omin- 

*  Macaulay  apparently  borrowed  from  Scott's  fiction  :  "  The 
fatal  weapon  was  found  in  the  chamber  smeared  with  blood.  It 
was  the  same  poinard  which  Henry  should  have  worn  on  the 
wedding  dav." 

255 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS    !    THE  BRIDE 

ous  words,  "  Well,  ye  may  marry  him,  but  sair  will  ye 
repent  it."  In  the  second  account,  the  parts  are  re- 
versed. It  was  the  bride  "  who  attacked  the  bride- 
groom furiously  with  a  knife,  dreadfully  injuring  him 
before  any  one  could  gain  admittance  to  the  nuptial 
chamber.  When  entrance  was  effected,  the  youth 
was  found  half-dead  upon  the  floor,  and  his  wife  in  a 
state  of  wildest  madness  exclaiming,  '  Take  up  your 
bonnie  bridegroom.'  "  It  is  added  that  she  never  re- 
gained her  senses,  that  her  husband,  who  recovered 
his  wounds,  would  tolerate  no  remark  on  the  subject, 
taking  even  the  slightest  hint  as  a  mortal  affront.  As 
readers  are  aware,  Scott  follows  this  second  version. 
According  to  still  another  tradition — the  tradition 
favoured  by  the  Dalrymple  family — the  disappointed 
suitor  concealed  in  the  bridal  chamber  becomes  the 
attacking  party,  and  a  window  found  open  was  said 
to  substantiate  that  belief.* 

*  "  Sir  Walter  seems  to  have  assumed  as  a  fact  that  the  forlorn 
and  distracted  victim,  seeing  no  other  means  of  escaping  from  a 
fate  which  she  held  with  disgust  and  abhorrence,  had  in  a  fit  of 
desperation  inflicted  the  fatal  wound  upon  her  selfish  and  unfeel- 
ing husband.  But  in  justice  to  the  memory  of  our  unhappy 
relative,  we  may  be  permitted  to  regret  Sir  Walter's  not  having 
been  made  acquainted  with  a  tradition  long  current  in  the  part 
of  the  country  where  the  tragical  event  took  place — namely,  that, 
from  the  window  having  been  found  open,  it  was  conjectured  that 
the  lover  had,  during  the  bustle  and  confusion  occasioned  by  the 
preparations  for  the  marriage  feast,  and  perhaps  by  the  conniv- 
ance of  some  servant  of  the  family,  contrived  to  gain  admis- 
sion and  to  secrete  himself  in  the  bridal  chamber,  whence  he  had 
made  his  escape  into  the  garden  after  having  fought  with  and 
severely  wounded  his  successful  rival — a  conclusion  strengthened 
by  other  concurring  circumstances,  and  rendered  more  probable 
by  the  fact  of  young  Baldoon  having,  to  his'  latest  breath,  ob- 

256 


^" 


N  * 


R 


A, 


the 
aid 

Ion 


OF  LAMMERMOOR     "LUCY  ASHTON  " 

In  Scott's  Introduction,  which,  by  the  way,  is  the 
most  interesting  and  readable  of  all  his  Prefaces,  men- 
tion is  made  of  Hamilton  of  Whitelaw,  who  had  never 
a  good  word  to  say  of  the  Dalrymples.  A  bitter  feud 
existed  between  him  and  Lord  Stair.  Stair's  family 
misfortunes  are  the  theme  of  his  most  malignant  satire, 
and  nothing  less  than  the  intervention  of  the  Evil  One 
himself  could  be  held  responsible  for  the  catastrophe : 

"  Nick  did  Baldoon's  posterior  right  decide 
And,  as  first  substitute,  did  seize  the  bride  ; 
Whate'er  he  to  his  mistress  did  or  said, 
He  threw  the  bridegroom  from  the  nuptial  bed, 
Into  the  chimney  did  so  his  rival  maul, 
His  bruised  bones  ne'er  were  cured  but  by  the  fall." 

Having  said  so  much,  it  is  time  to  look  at  what  are 
probably  the  true  facts  of  the  case.  They  appear  to 
be  these :  Janet  Dalrymple  and  Archibald,  third 
Lord  Rutherfurd,  an  impecunious  Scottish  peer, 
had  plighted  their  troth  together.  Her  parents  dis- 
approved of  the  match.  The  mother,  a  proud  dame, 
possessed  of  an  iron  will  and  an  ungovernable  tem- 
per, did  all  she  could  to  break  the  engagement  and  to 
foster  instead  an  alliance  between  her  daughter  and 
David  Dunbar,  heir  of  Sir  David  Dunbar  of  Baldoon, 
and  nephew  to  Rutherfurd.  Lady  Dalrymple  is  said 
to  have  worked  on  her  unfortunate  child  by  insisting 
on  observance  of  the  Levitical  Law  (Num.  chap, 
xxx.)  which  declares  that  a  woman  shall  be  free  of  a 

stinately  refused  to  give  any  explanation  on  the  subject.  .  .  .  The 
unfortunate  lover  was  said  to  have  disappeared  immediately  after 
the  catastrophe  in  a  manner  somewhat  mysterious  ;  but  this  part 
of  the  story  has  escaped  my  recollection." — Letter  from  Sir  Robert 
Dalrymple  Horn  Elfhinstcne,  Bart.  (1823). 
257  R 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS    :    THE  BRIDE 

vow  which  she  has  made,  "  if  her  father  disallow  her 
in  the  day  that  he  heareth."  Janet  at  length  gave 
in  and  agreed  to  marry  Dunbar.  The  wedding  took 
place  on  12th  August  1669,  at  the  Kirk  of  Glenluce, 
two  miles  from  her  home,  Carscreugh.  The  Bride  rode 
to  church  behind  one  of  her  younger  brothers  who 
long  afterwards  spoke  of  the  marble  coldness  of  her 
hand  as  it  touched  his  when  holding  by  his  waist. 
This  tradition  seems  well  authenticated — a  lady  who 
had  conversed  with  young  Dalrymple  repeated  her 
story  to  Scott,  so  that  only  one  link  lay  between  him 
and  the  Bride.  The  bridal  party  remained  about  a  fort- 
night at  Carscreugh,  and  on  the  24th  August  the  Bride 
went  to  her  new  home  at  Baldoon,  in  Kirkinner  Parish, 
near  the  town  of  Wigtown.  A  gallantly-attired  troop 
of  friends  accompanied  the  married  pair,  and  a  dram- 
atic entertainment,  or  masque,  was  prepared.  But 
to  the  consternation  and  grief  of  all,  the  bride  sud- 
denly sickened  and  died  within  a  month  of  her  mar- 
riage-day, 12th  September  1669. 

The  sole  contemporary  evidence  is  contained  in  an 
"  Elegy  "  by  the  Rev.  Andrew  Symson,  Episcopal 
minister  of  Kirkinner,  bearing  to  be  written  on  the 
day  of  the  lady's  funeral.  Symson  makes  no  sug- 
gestion of  any  such  sinister  event  as  that  which  the 
popular  imagination  has  succeeded  in  handing  down. 
Did  he  deliberately  draw  a  veil  over  the  actual  facts  ? 
He  was  the  parish  clergyman,  the  personal  friend  of 
the  bridegroom.    He  would  be  familiar  with  every 

detail  of  the  story  ;  would  take  part  in  the  wedding 

258 


OF  LAMMERMOOR     "LUCY  ASHTON  " 

ceremony,  and  in  the  welcome-home  rejoicings.  It 
is  incredible  that  Symson  would  put  his  verses  to- 
gether in  such  a  fashion,  if  the  circumstances  were 
as  the  traditions  allege.  The  "Elegy"  is  one  of  a 
group  of  thirteen  which  appeared  at  the  end  of  Tri- 
patriarchicon  (The  lives  of  the  Patriarchs),  a  series  of 
religious  poems,  printed  at  Edinburgh  in  1705  by 
Symson  himself,  who  turned  printer  after  his  minis- 
tering days  were  over  at  the  Revolution.  The  title 
of  the  poem  is  as  follows  : 

"  On  the  unexpected  Death  of  the  Vertuous  Lady, 
Mrs.  Janet  Dalrymple,  Lady  Baldone,  Younger. 

Nupta,  Aug.  12  ;    Domum  ducta,  Aug.  24  ;   Obiit,  Sept.  12  ; 
Sepult.  Sept.  30,  1669."* 

The  composition  is  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue  between 
a  stranger  and  a  domestic  servant  at  Baldoon.  So 
excessively  rare  is  the  little  volume  that  the  entire 
"  Elegy  "  may  be  quoted  : 

Dialogus  inter  advenam  et  servnm  domesticum 
Stranger. 

"  '  What  means  this  sudden  unexpected  change  ? 

This  mourning  Company  ?  Sure,  sure  some  strange 
And  uncouth  thing  hath  happen'd.  Phoebus' s  Head 
Hath  not  been  resting  on  the  wat'ry  bed 

*  The  Bride's  remains  are  said  to  have  been  removed  from 
Kirkinner  to  Kirkliston  Church,  Linlithgowshire,  by  her  brother, 
the  first  Earl  of  Stair,  who  had  his  principal  residence  in  the 
parish.  The  Bride's  mother  was  interred  here  in  1692.  The  story 
of  the  old  lady's  coffin  having  been  set  in  an  upright  position  as 
a  charm  to  ensure  the  prosperity  of  her  family,  is  in  all  proba- 
bility^ myth. 
259  " 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS    :    THE  BRIDE 

Of  Sea-green  Thetis  fourty  times,  since  I 

In  transitu  did  cast  my  tender  Eye 

Upon  this  very  place,  and  here  did  view 

A  Troop  of  Gallants  :  Iris  never  knew 

The  various  colours  which  they  did  imploy 

To  manifest  and  represent  their  joy. 

Yea  more  ;  Methinks  I  saw  this  very  Wall 

Adorn'd  with  Emblems  Hieroglyphicall. 

As  first  ;  The  glorious  Sun  in  lustre  shine  : 

Next  unto  it,  A  young  and  tender  Vine 

Surround  a  stately  Elm,  whose  tops  were  crown'd 

With  wreaths  of  Bay-tree  reaching  to  the  Ground  : 

And,  to  be  short,  methinks  I  did  espy 

A  pleasant,  harmless,  joyfull  Comedy. 

But  now  (sad  change,  I'm  sure,)  they  all  are  clad 

In  deepest  Sable,  and  their  Faces  sad. 

The  Sun's  o'erclouded  and  the  Vine's  away, 

The  Elm  is  drooping,  and  the  wreaths  of  Bay 

Are  chang'd  to  Cypress,  and  the  Comedie 

Is  metamorphos'd  to  a  Tragedie. 

I  do  desire  you,  Friend,  for  to  unfold 

This  matter  to  me.' 

Servant. 

'  Sir,  'tis  truth  you've  told. 
We  did  enjoy  great  mirth,  but  now,  ah  me  ! 
Our  joyful  Song's  turned  to  an  Elegie. 
A  vertuous  Lady,  not  long  since  a  Bride, 
Was  to  a  hopeful  plant  by  Marriage  ty'd, 
And  brought  home  hither.    We  did  all  rejoyce, 
Even  for  her  sake.    But  presently  our  voice 
Was  turned  to  mourning,  for  that  little  time 
That  she'd  enjoy  :  She  wained  in  her  prime. 
For  Atropus,  with  her  impartial  Knife, 
Soon  cut  her  Thread,  and  therewithall  her  Life. 
And  for  the  time,  we  may  it  well  remember, 
It  being  in  unfortunate  September, 
Just  at  the  /Equinox  :  She  was  cut  down 
In  th'  harvest,  and  this  day  she's  to  be  sown, 
Where  we  must  leave  her  till  the  Resurrection  ; 
'Tis  then  the  Saints  enjoy  their  full  perfection.'  " 

260 


OF  LAMMERMOOR    "LUCY  ASHTON 


>> 


In  these  lines  there  is  nothing  of  poetical  moment, 
but  they  are  written  with  feeling  and  delicacy  of  taste 
by  one  who  was  a  contemporary  of  the  parties,  and 
who  maybe  regarded  as  having  knowledge  of  the  facts 
as  well  as  any  one.  The  "  Elegy  "  points  distinctly  to 
rapid  decline  occasioned  by  the  operation  of  an  un- 
seen cause,  but  which  may  be  surmised  from  the  cir- 
cumstances already  mentioned  of  the  lady's  affections 
having  been  blighted,  whilst  not  the  most  distant  al- 
lusion is  made  to  any  such  harrowing  catastrophe  as 
that  on  which  the  novel  is  based.  This,  at  all  events, 
seems  a  plausible  solution  of  the  matter.  It  may  have 
had  its  origin  in  grim  fact,  or  it  may  be  one  of  those 
accretions  curiously  common  that  later  years  have 
gathered  around  this  old  Wigtownshire  legend  as 
around  many  others  everywhere.  As  for  the  bride- 
groom, Dunbar  bore  little  likeness  to  Bucklaw,  but 
was  "  a  cultivated  gentleman  of  unimpeachable  hon- 
our." He  married  a  second  time  (before  1679)  Hel- 
enor,  daughter  of  Hugh,  seventh  Earl  of  Eglintoun. 
She  died  at  Kilwinning  in  September  1687.  Dunbar's 
death  was  brought  about  by  a  fall  from  his  horse  "  at 
the  Quarrel  Holes,"  Edinburgh,  in  1682.  His  rival, 
Lord  Rutherfurd,  died  unmarried,  nth  March  1685. 
The  only  child  of  David  Dunbar's  second  marriage 
became  the  wife  of  Lord  Basil  Hamilton  and  was 
ancestress  of  Captain  Hope  of  St.  Mary's  Isle,  in 
whose  charter  chest  the  Marriage  Contract  of  the 
Bride  of  Baldoon  was  discovered  in   1869.     It   is 

dated  29th  May  1669,  and  a  most  handsome  pro- 
261 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS   I   THE  BRIDE 

vision  was  made  by  Sir  David  Dunbar,  father  of  the 
bridegroom,  a  man  rich  in  lands  and  money.  There 
are  eight  signatures,  the  parties  and  their  witnesses, 
as  under  : 

"  H.  Gordon,  witness  "Da:  Dunbar 

"  William  McGuffock,  witness    "  Janet  Dalrymple 
"  James  Dalrymple,  witness       "  J  a:  Dalrymple 
"  Thomas  McGraddon,  witness  "  Baldone." 

The  signature  of  the  Bride  is  large  and  distinct.  A 
little  tremulousness  appears  at  some  of  the  letters. 
The  capital  D  is  so  written  that  the  first  stroke  is  made 
across  within  three  parts  of  an  O.  The  boldest  signa- 
ture is  that  of  Sir  David  Dunbar,  the  bridegroom's 
father,  who  simply  gives  his  territorial  designation  of 
Baldone  or  Baldoon.  Sir  James  Dalrymple  gives  his 
name  and  surname.  The  witnesses  are  Hugh  Gordon 
of  Grange  of  Cree,  parish  of  Penninghame  ;  William 
McGuffock  of  Alticry,  parish  of  Mochrum,  and  after- 
wards of  Rusco,  parish  of  Anwoth  ;  James  Dalrymple 
was  the  second  son  of  Sir  James  and  brother  of  the 
Bride.  Thomas  McGraddon  was  the  solicitor  to  Sir 
James  Dalrymple. 

Scott,  of  course,  could  not  have  seen  the  Marriage 
Settlement,  even  though  in  the  novel  there  occur  these 
words  :  "  I  have  myself  seen  the  fatal  Deed."  That 
is  the  romancer  who  is  speaking.  The  Introduction 
of  1830  would  certainly  have  mentioned  it  as  a  fact, 
but  there  is  no  notice  of  the  Document  having  been 

seen  earlier  than  1869.    Minus  the  Deed  in  front  of 

262 


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OF  LAMMERMOOR     "LUCY  ASHTON" 

him,  how  wonderfully  has  Scott  delineated  the  move- 
ments of  the  chief  actor  in  that  agonising  signature 
scene !  "It  was  now  Miss  Ashton's  turn  to  sign  the 
writings,  and  she  was  guided  by  her  watchful  mother 
to  the  table  for  that  purpose.  At  her  first  attempt,  she 
began  to  write  with  a  dry  pen,  and  when  the  circum- 
stance was  pointed  out,  seemed  unable,  after  several 
attempts,  to  dip  it  in  the  massive  silver  ink-standish, 
which  stood  full  before  her.  Lady  Ashton's  vigilance 
hastened  to  supply  the  deficiency.  I  have  myself  seen 
the  fatal  Deed,  and  in  the  distinct  characters  in  which 
the  name  of  Lucy  Ashton  is  traced  on  each  page,  there 
is  only  a  very  slight  tremulous  irregularity,  indicative 
of  her  state  of  mind  at  the  time  of  the  subscription. 
But  the  last  signature  is  incomplete,  defaced  and  blot- 
ted ;  for,  while  her  hand  was  employed  in  tracing  it, 
the  hasty  tramp  of  a  horse  was  heard  at  the  gate,  suc- 
ceeded by  a  step  in  the  outer  gallery,  and  a  voice, 
which,  in  a  commanding  tone,  bore  down  the  opposi- 
tion of  the  menials.  The  pen  dropped  from  Lucy's 
fingers,  as  she  exclaimed  with  a  faint  shriek  :  '  He  is 
come — he  is  come  !  '  " 

Scott  is  careful  to  disclaim  any  intention  of  "tracing 
the  portrait  of  the  first  Lord  Stair  in  the  tricky  and 
mean-spirited  Sir  William  Ashton, ' '  but  he  virtually  ad- 
mits the  close  resemblance  between  Lady  Ashton,  the 
ambitious,  shrewd,  but  hard-hearted,  vindictive  mo- 
ther of  the  Bride,  and  the  wife  of  the  Viscount.  "Lady 
Ashton  was  of  a  family  more  distinguished  than  that 
of  her  lord,  an  advantage  which  she  did  not  fail  to  use 
263 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS   :   THE  BRIDE 

to  the  uttermost,  in  maintaining  and  extending  her 
husband's  influence  over  others,  and,  unless  she  was 
greatly  belied,  her  own  over  him.  She  had  been  beau- 
tiful, and  was  stately  and  majestic  in  her  appearance. 
Endowed  by  nature  with  strong  powers  and  violent 
passions,  experience  had  taught  her  to  employ  the 
one,  and  to  conceal,  if  not  to  moderate,  the  other. 
She  was  a  severe  and  strict  observer  of  the  external 
forms,  at  least,  of  devotion ;  her  hospitality  was  splen- 
did, even  to  ostentation  ;  her  address  and  manners, 
agreeable  to  the  pattern  most  valued  in  Scotland  at 
the  period,  were  grave,  dignified,  and  severely  regu- 
lated by  the  rules  of  etiquette.  Her  character  had 
always  been  beyond  the  breath  of  slander.  And 
yet,  with  all  these  qualities  to  excite  respect,  Lady 
Ashton  was  seldom  mentioned  in  the  terms  of  love  or 
affection.  Interest — the  interest  of  her  family,  if  not 
her  own — seemed  too  obviously  the  motive  of  her  ac- 
tions ;  and  where  this  is  the  case,  the  sharp-judging 
and  malignant  public  are  not  easily  imposed  upon  by 
outward  show.  It  was  seen  and  ascertained  that,  in 
her  most  graceful  courtesies  and  compliments,  Lady 
Ashton  no  more  lost  sight  of  her  object  than  the  fal- 
con in  his  airy  wheel  turns  his  quick  eyes  from  his 
destined  quarry  ;  and  hence,  something  of  doubt  and 
suspicion  qualified  the  feelings  with  which  her  equals 
received  her  attentions.  With  her  inferiors  these  feel- 
ings were  mingled  with  fear  :  an  impression  useful  to 
her  purposes,  so  far  as  it  enforced  ready  compliance 

with  her  requests  and  implicit  obedience  to  her  com- 

264 


OF  LAMMERMOOR     "LUCY  ASHTON  " 

mands,  but  detrimental,  because  it  cannot  exist  with 
with  affection  or  regard."  * 

Another  of  Symson's  panegyrics  contained  in  the 
Tripatriarchicon  is  entitled  :  "  A  Funeral  Elegie  oc- 
casioned by  the  sad  and  much  lamented  Death  of  that 
worthily  respected  and  very  much  accomplished  Gen- 
tleman, David  Dunbar,  Younger  of  Baldone,  only 
son  and  apparent  Heir  to  the  Right  Worshipful  Sir 
David  Dunbar  of  Baldone,  Knight  Baronet.  He  de- 
parted this  life  on  March  21,  1682,  having  received  a 
bruise  by  a  Fall,  as  he  was  riding  the  day  preceding 
betwixt  Leith  and  Holyroodhouse  ;  and  was  honour- 
ably interred  in  the  Abbey  Church  of  Holyrood- 
house, on  April  4,  1682."  The  intimate  relationship 
between  minister  and  parishioner  is  rendered  a  more 
amusing  circumstance  in  that  Dunbar  seems  to  have 
been  his  solitary  hearer.  Kirkinner  Parish  was  an 
absolutely  Whiggish  one.  That  notwithstanding, 
Symson  got  on  well  with  the  people  and  was  obliged 
to  leave  only  with  the  increasing  persecution  of  the 
Covenanters  in  1685-86.  He  had  been  minister  for 
twenty-three  years.  His  Description  of  Galloway  in  the 
Seventeenth  Century  is  an  invaluable  epitome  of  infor- 
mation. It  is  thus  that  he  writes  of  his  faithful  Baldoon: 

*  In  the  satires  of  the  day  Lady  Stair  was  described  as  the 
Witch  of  Endor.  For  examples  of  her  witchcraft  and  of  the  fear 
in  which  she  was  held  by  the  common  people,  see  Mackay's 
Memoir  of  Sir  James  Dalrymple.  It  was  this  Lady  Stair  who 
observed  to  Claverhouse  when  inveighing  against  John  Knox : 
"There  is  not,  after  all,  so  much  difference  between  you  and 
him ;  only  he  gained  his  point  by  '  clavers,'  you  gain  yours  by 
'  knocks.'  " 
265 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS   :    THE  BRIDE 

"  Men  might,  and  very  justly  too,  conclude 
Me  guilty  of  the  worst  ingratitude, 
Should  I  be  silent,  or  should  I  forbear 
At  this  sad  accident  to  shed  a  Tear — 
A  Tear,  said  I  ?    Ah  !  that's  a  petit  thing, 
A  very  lean,  slight,  slender  Offering, 
Too  mean,  I'm  sure  for  me,  wherewith  t'  attend 
The  unexpected  Funerals  of  my  Friend. 
A  Glass  of  briny  tears  charg'd  up  to  th'  brim 
Would  be  too  few  for  me  to  shed  for  him — 
For  him  my  noble,  constant,  only  Friend. 
That's  a  proud  word  you'll  say,  yet  ere  I  end 
I'll  make  it  evident,  I  nothing  doubt, 
Ere  I  conclude  to  make  it  fully  out. 
In  th'  late  Rebellion,  that  unhappy  time 
When  Loyalty  was  looked  on  as  a  Crime, 
And  Royalists  were  hooted  at  like  Owls, 
Esteemed  deserving  nought  but  Scoffs  and  Scowls, 
Frowns,  Mocks  and  Taunts,  of  which  he  had  his  share 
(And  'twas  my  daily  bread  and  constant  fare) — 
In  that  unhappy  time,  I  say,  when  I 
Was  almost  drown'd  in  deep  perplexity, 
When  many  persons  would  no  longer  stay 
And  all  my  Summer  Birds  fled  quite  away  ; 
Yet  He  (brave  soul !)  did  always  constant  prove, 
My  change  of  Fortune  never  changed  his  Love, 
For  change  who  lik'd,  he  ever  was  the  same ; 
In  nothing  chang'd,  save  that  he  chang'd  his  name. 
His  name  was  only  changed,  but  not  the  man ; 
I  was  the  David,  he  the  Jonathan. 
He  was  no  Schismatick,  he  ne'er  withdrew 
Himself  from  th'  House  of  God  ;  he  with  a  few 
(Some  two  or  three)  came  constantly  to  pray 
For  such  as  had  withdrawn  themselves  away, 
Nor  did  he  come  by  fits, — foul  day  or  fair, 
I,  being  in  the  church,  was  sure  to  see  him  there. 
Had  he  withdrawn,  'tis  like  these  two  or  three, 
Being  thus  discouraged,  had  deserted  me  ; 
So  that  my  Muse,  'gainst  Priscian,  averrs, 
He,  HE  alone,  WERE  my  Parishioners, 
Yea,  and  my  constant  Hearers.    O  that  I 
Had  pow'r  to  enternize  his  Memory  ; 

266 


^ 


)l 


X 


a 


OF  LAMMERMOOR     "LUCY  ASHTON  " 

Then  (though  my  joy,  my  glory,  and  my  crown, 

By  this  unhappy  fall  be  thus  fall'n  down,) 

I'd  rear  an  everlasting  monument, 

A  curious  structure  of  a  large  extent, — 

A  brave  and  stately  pile,  that  should  outbid 

/Egyptian  Cheops 's  costly  Pyramid, 

A  Monument  that  should  outlive  the  blast 

Of  Time,  and  Malice  too, — a  pile  should  last 

Longer  than  hardest  Marble,  and  surpass 

The  bright  and  durable  Corinthian  Brass  ! 

He  was  my  bosom  friend,  I  us'd  to  enshrine 

My  secrets  in  his  breast  :  he  his  in  mine. 

His  House  was  as  my  Home,  and  'tis  well  known 

He  look'd  upon  my  Chamber  as  his  own, 

As  being  so  often  there,  where  he  and  I 

Delighted  in  each  others  Company, 

And  (through  some  secret  Sympathetick  Art) 

When  ere  we  met,  we  still  were  loathe  to  part. 

His  Body,  though  not  very  large  or  tall, 

Was  sprightly,  active,  yea  and  strong  withall ; 

His  constitution  was,  if  right  I've  guessed, 

Blood  mixed  with  Choler,  said  to  be  the  best. 

In's  gesture,  converse,  speech,  discourse,  attire, 

He  practis'd  that  which  wise  men  still  admire, 

Commend,  or  recommend,  what's  that  you'll  say  : 

'Tis  this  :  He  ever  choos'd  the  middle  way 

'Twixt  both  th'  extremes.     Almost  in  every  thing 

He  did  the  like,  'tis  worth  our  noticing  : 

Sparing  yet  not  a  Niggard,  liberal 

And  yet  not  lavish  or  a  prodigal, 

And  knowing  when  to  spend  and  when  to  spare, 

And  that's  a  Lesson  which  not  many  are 

Acquainted  with.    He  bashfull  was,  yet  daring 

When  he  saw  cause,  and  yet  therein  but  sparing. 

Familiar,  yet  not  common,  for  he  knew 

To  condescend,  and  keep  his  distance  too. 

He  used,  and  that  most  commonly,  to  go 

On  foot :  I  wish  that  he  had  still  done  so." 

For  seventy-eight  lines  more  the  poem  goes  on  to  speak 
of  his  attainments  in  learning  and  his  great  accom- 
plishments, and  then  ends  as  follows  : 
267 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

"  When  live  or  six  months  since  I  play'd  the  Poet 
(And  'twas  his  proper  motion  made  me  do  it), 
And  having  done,  he  read  my  Lines,  commended 
The  same,  but  chiefly  two  wherewith  they  ended. 
O  God  Almighty,  grant  when  Death  shall  seize  us 
We  may  not  dy,  but  only  sleep  in  Jesus. 
This  distich  he  read  o'er  and  o'er  again 
And  from  his  very  heart  subjoyn'd  Amen, 
And  truly  I  have  ground  of  hope  that  he 
Reap'd  good  thereby  in  his  Catastrophe. 
For  though,  alas  !  he  rode  but  too  too  fast, 
Yet,  death  pursu'd,  and  seized  him  at  the  last. 
And  like  a  surly  messenger  he  came 
Abruptly  in,  devoid  of  fear  or  shame, 
Selecting  this  our  Friend  from  all  the  rest 
In  furious  manner,  smote  him  on  the  breast, 
Would  hardly  be  in  treated  to  delay 
His  final  stroke,  to  the  succeeding  day. 
His  Death  doth  grieve  us,  but  the  very  chief 
Ingredient  that  aggravates  our  grief 
Is  the  sad  accident,  this  sudden  fall ; 
Oh  !  that's  the  very  Wormwood  and  the  Gall. 
Yet  this  should  mitigate  our  grief  and  ease  us, 
In  hopes  that  now  he  sweetly  sleeps  in  Jesus." 


CHAPTER  SIXTEEN 

A  LEGEND  OF  MONTROSE 
DUGALD  DALGETTY  " 


Such  as  do  build  their  faith  upon 
The  holy  text  of  pike  and  gun." 

Butler. 


CHAPTER  SIXTEEN  :  A  LEGEND  OF 
MONTROSE  "DUGALD  DALGETTY" 

THAT  MOST  EXCITING  OF  THE  WAVERLEYS, 

A  Legend  of  Montrose,  appeared  in  company  with  The 
Bride  of  Lammermoor.  Both  novels  were  the  fruit  of 
the  most  gloomy  period  in  Scott's  career,  bating  that 
which  followed  the  death  of  Lady  Scott.  It  is  curious 
to  find  Scott,  despite  sufferings  which  would  have 
quelled  the  stoutest  soul,  giving  us  in  the  Legend 
some  of  the  finest  delineations  in  fiction,  and  creating 
that  most  comically-refreshing  of  his  characters,  the 
redoubted  Dalgetty.  "  Never,"  says  Mr.  Lang  (tore- 
peat  what  was  said  of  The  Bride),  "  was  a  more  signal 
triumph  of  mind  over  body  :  never  a  more  convinc- 
ing disproof  of  the  strange  theory  that  Scott's  genius 
was  subdued  by  the  tribulations  of  the  flesh."  His 
physical  prostrations  seemed  rather  to  quicken  and 
intensify  the  mental  moods.  The  Legend  exhibits  some 
of  The  Bride  s  sad  and  distressing  elements,  and  both 
stories  end  dismally. 

Montrose  was  a  figure  who  was  sure  to  appeal  to 
Scott's  sentiment  both  from  a  historical  and  a  roman- 
tic standpoint.  In  him  were  fulfilled  all  the  con- 
ditions for  a  really  powerful  romance.  Montrose's 
espousal  of  the  Covenant  and  sudden  abandonment 
of  the  same ;  the  splendid  loyalty  of  him  whose  motto 
was  "  I  live  and  die  for  loyaltye  "  ;  his  remarkable 
adventures,  hair-breadth  escapes,  exhibitions  of  con- 
summate bravery,  his  sweeping  tides  of  victory ;  and 

finally,  his  rout,  and  flight,  and  death  were  pulsat- 
271 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS    :    A  LEGEND 

ing  with  dramatic  possibilities.  Scott  does  not  carry 
Montrose  down  to  the  bitter  end,  and  he  is  not  the 
leading  character  in  the  novel.  By  this  it  is  not  to  be 
inferred  that  his  exploits  do  not  give  body  to  the  book, 
or  that  the  Great  Marquis  himself  is  not  finely  de- 
scribed. He  appears  often  enough  throughout  the 
story,  but  there  is  no  towering  grandeur  about  him. 
He  might  perfectly  well  change  places  with  Menteith 
and  we  should  scarcely  see  the  difference. 

A  lesser  theme  contented  Scott.  The  fate  of 
Lord  Kilpont,  who  takes  his  father's  title  of  Earl  of 
Menteith,  and  the  strange  history  of  James  Stewart 
of  Ardvoirlich,  who  becomes  the  half-crazed  deutero- 
scopic,  Allan  M'Aulay  of  Darnlinvarach,  were  the 
topics  on  which  Scott  chose  to  work.  Nor,  as  he  con- 
fessed, could  he  resist  the  temptation  to  follow  that 
"  wandering  knight  so  fair,"  Dalgetty,  "  over  hill  and 
corrie,  in  prison  and  in  camp  and  field."  That  was 
the  temptation  of  the  Legend.  It  is  the  great  Dugald 
Dalgetty  of  Drumthwacket — most  perfect  type  of 
the  wandering  Scot  of  a  bygone  age,  conceited,  prag- 
matic, garrulous, — that  dauntless  soldier  of  fortune, 
who  monopolises  the  interest  of  the  tale.  Strictly 
speaking,  he  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  story,  and  was 
originally  introduced  as  "  a  personage  proper  to  the 
time  and  country,"  who  might  serve  as  a  foil  "to 
enliven  the  tragedy  of  the  tale."  The  truth  is,  he 
ends  by  absorbing  the  attention  of  author  and  reader 
alike.    We  cannot  have  too  much  of  him,  spite  of 

Jeffrey's  protest.    How  Scott  loved  to  mould  his  men 

272 


OF  MONTROSE  "  DUGALD  DALGETTY  " 

of  the  Dalgetty  stamp  !  Once  on  their  track,  restraint 
was  hopeless :  "  I  think  there  is  a  demon,"  says  he 
(in  the  Introductory  Epistle  to  The  Fortunes  of  Nigel), 
"  who  seats  himself  on  the  feather  of  my  pen,  when  I 
begin  to  write,  and  leads  it  away  from  the  purpose. 
When  I  light  on  such  a  character  as  Bailie  Jarvie,  or 
Dalgetty,  my  imagination  brightens,  and  my  concep- 
tion becomes  clearer  at  every  step  which  I  take  in  his 
company,  although  it  leads  me  many  a  mile  away 
from  the  regular  road,  and  forces  me  to  leap  hedges 
and  ditches  to  get  back  into  the  route  again.  If  I 
resist  the  temptation,  as  you  advise  me,  my  thoughts 
become  prosy,  flat,  and  dull ;  I  write  painfully  to  my- 
self, and  under  a  consciousness  of  flagging  which 
makes  me  flag  still  more ;  the  sunshine  with  which 
fancy  had  invested  the  incidents  departs  from  them, 
and  leaves  everything  dull  and  gloomy.  ...  In  short, 
sir,  on  such  occasions  I  think  I  am  bewitched." 

The  minor  characters,  including  the  nominal  hero 
and  heroine — Menteith  and  Annot  Lyle — occupy  only 
a  trifling  place  in  the  novel,  and  there  is  no  special  in- 
terest attaching  to  them. 

II 

There  is  good  warrant  for  the  character  of  Dal- 
getty. The  name  itself  was  borrowed  from  that  old 
acquaintance  of  Scott's  boyhood,  Captain  Dalgetty 
of  Prestonpans,  "who  had  fought  in  all  the  German 
wars,  but  found  very  few  to  listen  to  his  tales  of  mili- 
tary feats."  "He  formed,"  says  Scott,  "a  sort  ofalli- 
273  s 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS     \    A  LEGEND 

ance  with  me,  and  I  used  invariably  to  attend  him 
for  the  pleasure  of  hearing  these  communications." 
The  real  antecedents,  however,  out  of  which  grew  the 
Dalgetty  as  we  know  him,  are  to  be  found  in  the 
memoirs  of  the  Scottish  mercenaries  of  the  period. 
Travel  and  adventure  and  the  love  of  fightinghadever 
distinguished  the  Scots,  and  they  had  always  been 
poor.  As  early  as  1578  Scottish  soldiers  gave  gallant 
and  memorable  service  at  the  Battle  of  Mechlin,  where 
they  fought  the  Spaniards  in  their  shirts  like  Mon- 
trose's men  at  Kilsyth.  The  great  war  which  for 
thirty  years  desolated  Europe  was  the  epoch^ar  excel- 
lence of  the  Scottish  soldiers  of  fortune.  They  dis- 
dained no  service,  but  the  name  of  Gustavus  Adolphus 
was  one  to  conjure  with,  for  the  noble  spirit  displayed 
by  the  Swedes  and  their  sovereign  in  their  champion- 
ship of  the  liberties  of  Protestant  Europe.  A  large 
national  brigade  fought  for  the"  invincible  Gustavus," 
and  their  numbers,  Scott  says,  may  be  guessed  from 
those  of  the  superior  officers,  which  amounted  to 
thirty-four  colonels  and  fifty  lieutenant -colonels.  But 
"  the  taste  for  foreign  service  was  so  universal  that 
young  gentlemen  of  family,  who  wished  to  see  the 
world,  used  to  travel  on  the  Continent  from  place  to 
place,  and  from  state  to  state,  and  defray  their  ex- 
penses by  engaging  for  a  few  weeks  or  months  in 
military  service  in  the  garrison  or  guards  of  the  state 
in  which  they  made  their  temporary  residence." 
Scott  has  been  accused  of  injustice  to  the  spirit  and 

bearing  of  the  Scottish  mercenaries  in  his  picture  of 

274 


OF  MONTROSE  "  DUGALD  DALGETTY  " 

Dalgetty.  But  the  very  qualities  of  courage,  and 
military  skill,  and  the  queer  notions  of  fidelity  which 
characterised  the  mercenaries,  are  qualities  the  Ritt- 
master  possesses  in  a  remarkable  degree.  He  is  sol- 
dado  and  student,  as  were  many  of  the  mercenaries — 
as  Le  Balafre  and  Bradwardine.  As  for  the  principles 
on  which  he  regulated  his  frequent  choice  of  sides,  the 
condition  of  the  times  rendered  that  almost  inevit- 
able. Sir  John  Urrie  (who  figures  in  the  Legend), 
"  changed  sides  twice  during  the  Civil  War  and  was 
destined  to  turn  his  coat  a  third  time  before  it  ended," 
without  damaging  his  reputation  in  the  least.  Scott 
styles  him  "  a  brave  and  good  partisan." 

Of  memoirs  of  the  mercenaries,  two,  in  particular, 
were  used  by  Scott,  both  of  them  written,  he  remarks, 
very  much  in  the  humour  of  the  doughty  Captain  : 
the  Memoirs  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Robert  Munro, 
and  of  Sir  James  Turner.  Annotations  on  the  mar- 
gin of  Munro's  closely-printed  black-letter  folio  of 
Expeditions  and  Observations,  preserved  in  the  Ad- 
vocates' Library,  have  a  suspicious  resemblance  to 
Scott's  handwriting.  This  was  probably  the  copy  he 
used  in  gathering  materials  for  A  Legend  of  Montrose, 
and  evolving  the  immortal  personality  of  Dalgetty. 
Hints  in  several  of  the  novels — in  Old  Mortality,  for 
instance  (in  the  remarks  of  Both  well  and  Major  Bel- 
lenden) — show  that  Scott  was  familiar  with  both 
books,  and  had  carefully  studied  them. 

It  was,  however,  the  Memoirs  of  Sir  James  Turner 

to  which  Scott  was  most  indebted  for  many  touches 
275 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS    :    A  LEGEND 

of  the  portraiture  of  the  intrepid  Dugald,  and  of  the 
scenes  in  which  he  is  made  to  figure.  Turner  was  a  son 
of  the  manse ;  born  in  1615,  under  the  shadow  of  Borth- 
wick  Castle,  of  which  parish  his  father,  Patrick  Turner, 
was  minister  from  1604  to  1629.  His  mother  was  Mar- 
garet Law.  At  Glasgow  (Dalgetty  was  a  Marischal 
College  man)  Turner  ruefully  pursued  his  studies,  and 
took  his  degree  sorely  against  his  will.  Not  in  books 
but  in  battles  was  the  young  heart  of  him.  His  dream 
was  to  handle  the  pike  instead  of  to  wag  his  head  in  a 
pulpit.  "  A  restless  desire  entered  my  mind  to  be,  if 
not  an  actor,  at  least  a  spectator  of  those  warrs  which 
made  so  much  noyse  over  all  the  world."  He  had 
friends,  and  an  ensigncy  was  found  for  him  in  the  regi- 
ment Sir  James  Lumsdale — the  "  stout  Lumsdale"  of 
Dalgetty 's  "  intake  "  of  Frankfort — was  then  raising 
for  the  service  of  the  Lion  of  the  North.  Turner's  ap- 
prenticeship to  campaigning  was  a  rough  one.  He  had 
many  "a  lamentable  cold,  wet,  and  rainie  march." 
In  winter,  he  lay  in  the  open  with  no  covering  but  his 
plaid.  His  fare  was  poor  :  bread  and  water,  "  little 
of  the  first,  but  an  abundance  of  the  latter."  But  "  I 
was  so  hardened  with  fatigue  and  so  well  inured  to 
toyle  that  I  fully  resolved  to  go  on  in  that  course  of 
life  of  which  I  had  made  choice."  At  Oldendorf,  and 
Hamelin,  the  town  of  the  Pied  Piper,  he  drew  first 
blood,  blossoming  into  an  apt  pupil  in  all  that  per- 
tained to  the  art  of  self-help  (not  in  Dr.  Smiles'  sense) 
:<  I  had  got  so  much  cunning  and  became  so  vigilant  to 

lay  hold  on  opportunities  that  I  wanted  for  nothing, 

276 


OF  MONTROSE  "  DUGALD  DALGETTY  " 

horses,  clothes,  meate,  nor  money,  and  made  so  good 
use  of  what  I  had  learned  that  the  whole  time  I  served 
in  Germanie  I  suffered  no  such  miserie  as  I  had  done." 
There  is  an  amusingly  frank  passage  in  the  memoirs 
as  to  a  cavalier  of  fortune's  code  of  morality — Dal- 
getty's  very  sentiments :  "  I  had  swallowed  without 
chewing  in  Germanie  a  very  dangerous  maxime, 
which  military  men  there  too  much  follow  :  which 
was,  that  so  we  serve  our  master  honestlie,  it  is  no 
matter  what  master  we  serve."  He  had,  for  example, 
the  chance  of  a  couple  of  ships  sailing  from  Gothen- 
burg— an  Englishman  bound  for  Hull,  a  Dane  for 
Leith.  It  was  a  toss-up  which  he  should  take  :  if  he 
went  to  the  Humber,  he  would  be  for  the  King  ;  if  to 
the  Forth,  for  the  Covenant.  An  accident  "  deemed 
providential  "  decided  the  matter,  and  he  arrived  at 
Leith.  From  Edinburgh  he  followed  General  Alex- 
ander Leslie  to  his  leaguer  on  the  Tyne,  where,  on 
the  recommendation  of  the  "  dissolute  Rothes,"  he 
became  Major  in  Lord  Kirkcudbright's  regiment  of 
Galwegians — "  a  people  fatale  to  me."  Turner  never 
took  the  Covenant.  A  Royalist  at  heart,  he  had 
never  any  liking  for  it.  But,  indeed,  it  mattered  not 
what  side  he  served.  King's  man  or  Covenanter,  for 
Montrose  or  the  Solemn  Leaguers,  for  Prelacy  or 
Presbytery,  he  could  be  either ;  "  for  I  had  a  prin- 
ciple, having  not  yet  studied  a  better  one,  that  I 
wronged  not  my  conscience  in  doeing  anything  I  was 
commanded  to  doe  by  those  I  served."    He  served 

in  Ireland  with  the  Ulster  Scots  against  the  Irish 

277 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS    :    A  LEGEND 

rebels,  in  all  that  "  war  of  ambushes  and  surprises, 
of  desultory  righting  through  swamps  and  wood- 
lands, of  lining  hedgerows  with  musketry,  and  meet- 
ing pikes,  scythes,  and  bludgeons  with  desultory 
volleys  " :  at  Newark,  where  he  plotted  for  the  King's 
escape  :  with  Leslie's  expedition  into  Kintyre,  "  not, 
of  course,  for  base  considerations  of  pay,  but  because 
I  thought  it  dutie  to  fight  against  those  men  who 
first  had  deserted  their  Generall  Montrose,  when  he 
stood  most  in  need  of  them."  Turner  confirms  all 
that  Scott  says  in  the  Legend  about  the  formidable 
passes  leading  into  Argyll's  country,  traversed  only  by 
the  hunters  and  shepherds.  Had  Colkittobut  secured 
them  "  with  his  thousand  of  brave  foot,"  Leslie  could 
never  have  entered  Kintyre  "  but  by  a  miracle." 

In  1648,  Turner  was  all  in  all  for  Royalty,  full  of 
the  Duke  of  Hamilton's  ill-timed  project  in  aid  of  the 
English  Royalists  and  for  the  rescue  of  Charles.  Never 
a  more  foolish  enterprise  !  With  Cromwell  hard  at 
their  heels  the  denouement  came  in  the  heart  of  Staf- 
fordshire. Hamilton,  like  his  royal  master,  went  tothe 
block,  Turner  to  a  twelvemonth's  captivity  at  Hull. 
Released,  he  crossed  to  Hamburg,  where  he  found  him- 
self "  among  a  number  of  penniless  compatriots  atten- 
ding the  orders  and  motions  of  Montrose."  Want  of 
money,  he  tells  us,  prevented  him  from  joining  Mon- 
trose's final  attempt  in  January  1650.  But  he  made 
his  way  to  Scotland,  landing  near  Aberdeen  on  the 
very  eve  of  the  Battle  of  Dunbar.    Again  his  services 

were  in  demand.     As  Adjutant-General  he  marched 

278 


OF  MONTROSE  "  DUGALD  DALGETTY  " 

into  England,  to  be  taken  prisoner  at  Worcester.  He 
escaped,  and  reached  London,  where  he  concealed 
himself  for  a  time,  then  joined  Charles  n.  at  Paris. 
Greatly  daring,  he  landed  in  Fife  in  1654,  to  inquire 
as  to  the  chances  of  a  fresh  Royalist  rising.  Every- 
thing was  discouraging :  he  got  safely  out  of  the  coun- 
try, and  for  the  next  two  or  three  years  "  danced  at- 
tendance on  the  impecunious  Charles,  whose  Court 
was  agitated  by  alternate  hopes  and  fears,"  according 
to  the  news  from  England. 

At  the  Restoration,  Turner  (like  Dalgetty)  received 
the  accolade  of  knighthood,  by  which  he  set  small 
store,  as  it  was  promotion  without  pay.  In  1663  he 
became  commander  of  the  forces  in  the  south-west  of 
Scotland,  endeavouring  to  crush  the  Covenanters. 
There  we  see  him  in  his  true  colours  as  Bite-the-Sheep 
Turner,  "  a  merciless  brigand,  wherever  there  was  a 
house  to  harry  or  a  fatted  calf  to  kill."  A  lust  for 
loot  possessed  him,  and  hundreds  of  families  were 
beggared  by  his  fines.  Given  a  free  hand,  to  one  of 
his  kidney  the  opportunities  for  feathering  his  nest 
were  irresistible.  Even  such  a  friendly  Court  as  the 
Privy  Council  saw  fit  to  interpose ;  but  all  his  pro- 
testations of  clemency  could  not  save  him  from  los- 
ing his  place  as  an  officer  and  a  soldier.  Still,  bad  as 
Turner  was — a  hard  drinker,  an  unscrupulous  mer- 
cenary, a  "  booted  Apostle  of  Prelacy  "  of  the  most 
tyrannical  and  dragooning  type — some  better  traits 
must  have  been  left  in  the  man.  Cruel  and  blood- 
thirsty in  the  Claverhouse  sense  he  does  not  seem  to 
279 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

have  been,  despite  Defoe's  epithet  of  "butcher,"  or 
he  would  not  have  fared  so  mercifully  when  the  Whigs 
took  him  in  his  lodgings  at  Dumfries.  Mr.  Lang  de- 
clares that  Turner  was  "  infinitely  more  of  a  Christian 
than  the  Saints  of  the  Covenant."  A  coarse  Chris- 
tian, then  !  Even  Scott  speaks  of  him  with  some 
harshness.  Any  inner  light  that  he  possessed  must 
have  been  faint  enough.  His  was  not  a  nature  sensi- 
tive to  the  highest  and  holiest  things.  In  Walter 
Smith's  lines  (applied  to  Burley)  we  may  hear  him 
speak  in  his  own  tongue  : 

"  Bah  I  give  me  a  conscience  that  rules  with  a  will, 
Or  one  that  can  hold  its  peace  and  be  still ; 
But  neither  the  Lord  nor  the  devil  will  care 
For  your  conscience  that  scruples  and  splits  on  a  hair." 

Turner's  last  days  were  spent  at  Glasgow,  and  at  his 
place  at  Craig,  in  Ayrshire,  where  he  busied  himself 
with  literature,  writing  his  Memoirs  and  Pallas  Ar- 
mata — Essays  on  the  Art  of  War,  and  even  courting 
the  Muses.  He  died  probably  soon  after  1685.  His 
wife,  Mary  White,"  a  good  beautie,"  whom  he  met "  at 
the  Neurie,"  survived  him  till  about  the  year  1716.* 

*  Skene,  curiously — but  "  Sir  Walter  himself  told  me," — finds  a 
prototype  of  Dalgetty  in  "an  ancestor  of  mine  in  the  military 
annals  of  Holland — the  General  Martin  Skene  [Maarten  Schenk] 
who,  in  command  of  the  Dutch  army  at  the  siege  of  Namur,  was 
killed  [1589]  in  forcing  the  passage  of  the  river.  His  body  floated 
down  to  the  island,  on  which  he  had  constructed  a  strong  fort, 
which  still  bears  his  name"  [Schenkenschans,  near  Nymegen — 
not  Namur]. — Memories  of  Sir  Waller  Scott. 


CHAPTER   SEVENTEEN 

IVANHOE 
"  REBECCA  " 


"  She  moves  a  goddess  and  she  looks  a  queen." 

Pope's  Homer. 


CHAPTER  SEVENTEEN  IVAN- 

HOE  "REBECCA" 

JUDGED  BY  SUCH  MUNDANE  THINGS  as  book- 
selling returns,  Ivanhoe  is  far  and  away  the  most 
popular  of  Scott's  romances.  In  many  respects  it  is 
more  adapted  to  the  taste  of  boyhood  than  any  of  the 
others.  Boys  do  not  relish  the  vernacular,  and  Ivan- 
hoe is  splendidly  free  from  "  the  dialect  " — that  great 
stumbling-block  to  English  readers  of  Scott.  And 
what,  from  a  boy's  point  of  view,  shall  be  said  of  the 
fights  in  Ivanhoe,  the  crowded  lists,  the  flashing  lances, 
the  terrible  storming  of  Front-de-Bceuf's  Castle — 
that  happy  company  of  knights,  ladies,  dragons,  en- 
chanters, of  the  world  of  Ariosto  ?  Here  is  enough  and 
more  to  seal  the  heart  of  youth  for  ever  to  this  grand- 
est essay  in  historical  fiction.  In  Ivanhoe,  Scott  pass- 
ed from  scenes  familiar  on  his  native  heath  to  a  less 
known  arena,  and  to  times  historically  earlier  than 
those  he  had  yet  delineated.  He  crossed  the  Border, 
let  his  fancy  run  riot  in  the  realm  of  Southern  story 
and  tradition,  and  won  several  of  his  noblest  tri- 
umphhs.  The  first  of  these,  Ivanhoe,  was  also  the 
most  notable.  The  novel  was  received  throughout 
England  with  a  more  clamorous  delight  than  any  of 
its  Scottish  predecessors  had  been.  Twelve  thousand 
copies  were  sold  almost  at  once,  notwithstanding  the 
higher  price.  It  had  been  a  question  in  Scott's  mind 
whether  he  could  with  success  pass  into  the  untried 
field,  but  the  reception  given  to  the  new  romance  re- 
vealed the  marvellous  adaptability  of  the  man.  Ivan- 
283 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS      :      IVANHOE 

hoe  was,  as  Lockhart  remarks,  the  flood-tide  of  Scott's 
popularity  as  an  author.  It  was  written  at  the  pin- 
nacle of  his  fame.  He  was  a  newly-fledged  baronet, 
and  had  just  declined  the  laureateship.  It  was  writ- 
ten when  his  health  was  so  poor  that  he  hardly  ex- 
pected to  live  to  see  it  completed.  The  greater  part, 
indeed,  was  dictated.  He  had  at  this  time  also  a  spate 
of  domestic  afflictions .  Worst  sorrow  of  all,  his  mother 
died  a  week  after  Ivanhoe  had  been  published  and  was 
setting  the  Thames  on  fire. 

The  name  Ivanhoe  was  suggested  by  an  old  rhyme 
in  which  mention  is  made  of  the  manors  forfeited  by 
one  of  John  Hampden's  ancestors  : 

"  Tring,  Wing,  and  Ivinghoe, 
For  striking  of  a  blow, 
Hampden  did  forego, 
And  glad  he  had  escaped  so."  * 

The  word,  Scott  says,  suited  his  purpose,  first  for  its 
ancient  English  sound  ;  and  second,  because  (dislik- 
ing to  "  write  up  "  to  a  name)  Ivanhoe  conveyed  no 
indication  as  to  the  nature  of  the  story. 

The  period  of  the  narrative  is  the  reign  of  Richard 
i.,  when  Norman  and  Saxon  had  scarcely  begun  to 
fuse,  and  it  abounds  with  characters  whose  names  are 
sure  to  attract  attention.  The  plain,  blunt  Saxon, 
the  refined,  elegant  Norman,  the  wealthy  but  de- 
spised Jew,  the  faithful  serf,  are  each  portrayed  in 
successful  contrast  to  one  another.    The  result  is  an 

*  Ivinghoe  is  in  Buckinghamshire.  The  story  goes  that  a 
Hampden  struck  the  Black  Prince  a  blow  with  his  racket  when 
they  quarrelled  at  tennis.  It  appears,  however,  that  neither  of 
the  three  manors  mentioned  ever  belonged  to  the  Hampdens. 

284 


a 


REBECCA 


authentic  and  fascinating  picture  of  Old  English  man- 
ners and  romance.  Lockhart  says  that  the  group  of 
Jews  originated  in  a  conversation  between  Scott  and 
Skene  of  Rubislaw.  Skene  visited  Sir  Walter  when 
his  agony  was  at  its  worst,  and  tried  to  amuse  him 
by  an  account  of  the  Jews  as  he  had  seen  them  in 
the  German  ghettos,  suggesting  the  introduction  of 
types  of  this  race  into  his  next  novel.  Lockhart,  ap- 
parently, knew  nothing  of  the  Washington  Irving 
episode  to  be  referred  to.  The  tragic  death  of  the 
Templar  was  founded  on  the  sudden  demise  of  Mr. 
Elphinstone  of  Glack,  which  happened  in  the  Edin- 
burgh Parliament  House  in  Scott's  presence.  An 
after-dinner  conversation  with  Will  Clerk  supplied 
the  materials  for  one  of  the  most  amusing  chapters 
in  the  story — the  talk  of  the  wise  fool  Wamba  (one 
of  Scott's  finest  creations)  and  Gurth  on  English 
calf  and  Norman  veal.  The  formidable  name  of 
Front-de-Bceuf  was  borrowed  from  a  roll  of  Norman 
warriors  occurring  in  the  Auchinleck  Manuscript. 
As  for  the  historicity  of  Ivanhoe,  Freeman  carries  his 
cavilling  rather  far.  No  doubt  there  are  anachron- 
isms. In  the  matter  of  historical  correctness  Scott  did 
not  profess  to  be  immaculate.  Besides,  Ivanhoe  is 
romance,  not  history.  But  every  available  source  of 
information  was  ransacked.  More  "  reading-up  "  was 
spent  over  this  novel  than  on  any  others.  The  facts 
of  English  mediaeval  life  Scott  set  out  to  master,  with 
one  result,  that  the  putting  together  of  the  story 
was  accomplished  with  unconscionable  rapidity,  ill- 
285 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS      !      IVANHOE 

ness  and  all.  The  resuscitation  of  Athelstane  (derived 
from  Lindsay  of  Covington's  trance),  Scott  admitted, 
was  a  "  botch  "  (Letter  to  Ballantyne,  1828) ;  and 
somewhere  else  he  pleads  guilty  of  writing  Cedric  for 
Cerdic,  the  true  form. 

II 

Laidlaw  tells  how  interested  he  was  (in  the  course  of 
dictation)  in  the  character  of  Rebecca.  The  amanu- 
ensis repeatedly  exclaimed  :  "  That  is  fine.  That  is 
fine.  Get  on,  Mr.  Scott.  Get  on  !  "  *  Scott,  himself 
highly  pleased  with  the  character,  laughed  and  re- 
plied :  "  Softly,  Willie  ;  recollect  I  have  to  make  the 
story — I  shall  make  something  of  my  Rebecca." 

It  is  Rebecca  who  is  the  triumph  of  Ivanhoe.  More 
than  in  the  Coeur  de  Lion  himself,  or  in  the  Knight 
of  Ivanhoe,  or  in  any  of  the  haughty  templars  and 
barons  so  prominent  in  this  romance,  its  strength  and 
charm  lie  in  the  sad,  devoted  and  unrequited  tender- 
ness of  the  Jewish  damsel.  In  almost  every  one  of 
Scott's  works  there  is  a  poetical,  may  we  not  say  an 
impossible,  character — some  one  too  good  and  en- 
chanting to  be  believed  in — yet  so  identified  with  our 
nature  as  to  pass  for  a  reality.  Rebecca  is  the  angelic 
being  in  Ivanhoe,  and  at  the  last  engrosses  all  the  in- 
terest. She  is  the  noblest  of  all  the  daughters  of 
Israel  who  have  appeared  on  the  page  of  fiction. 
Among  Scott's  women  characters  of  her  class  none 

*  Laidlaw  abjured  with  some  warmth  the  old-wife  exclamations 
which  Lockhart  ascribes  to  him — as,  "  Gude  keep  us  a' !  " — "  The 
like  o'  that  !  "— "  Eh,  sirs  !  eh,  sirs  1  "  etc. 

286 


<< 


REBECCA " 


has  been  more  admired.  Her  beauty,  her  grace,  her 
devotion  to  her  father,  her  sacrifices  for  her  faith, 
and  the  sweetness  of  her  heroic  nature  constitute  a 
picture  of  Jewish  womanhood  which  no  Christian 
writer  has  surpassed  in  its  delicate  but  enduring 
charm. 

Curiously,  in  the  almost  inexhaustible  mass  of  lit- 
erature which  clusters  around  Scott  and  his  work,  we 
have  no  hint  of  an  Original  for  this  so  winsome,  this 
so  peerless  of  his  creations.  Rebecca  has  her  proto- 
type, nevertheless.  This  is  perhaps  the  only  instance 
in  which  Scott  went  far  afield  for  the  model  of  one 
of  his  great  characters.  For  Rebecca's  alter  ego  be- 
longs to  America,  a  country  but  seldom  mentioned 
in  the  Waverleys.  Except,  indeed,  for  Major  Bridge- 
north's  reminiscences  of  New  England  life  in  Peveril 
there  is  scarcely  another  reference  to  the  land  of 
the  Stars  and  Stripes.  No  nation  in  the  world  has 
taken  Scott  to  its  heart  as  America  has  done.  In 
his  lifetime  many  transatlantic  visitors  found  their 
way  to  Abbotsford,  and  several  well-known  Ameri- 
cans Scott  counted  among  his  lifelong  friends.  But 
America  itself  does  not  seem  to  have  appealed  to  him. 
How  surprised,  how  overwhelmed  would  he  now  be 
at  the  extraordinary  homage  which  thousands  of  ad- 
mirers from  over  the  sea  pay,  as  it  were,  to  his  very 
footsteps  year  by  j^ear  !  The  bulk  of  those  who  flock 
to  the  Scott  Country  every  summer  are  Americans  ; 
and  in  their  own  country,  whatever  the  case  in  ours 

may  be,  Scott's  place  as  the  mightiest  of  the  magici- 
287 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

ans  is  unassailable.  In  the  leading  libraries  of  the 
United  States  it  is  Scott  who  heads  the  fiction-lists. 
He  has  become  a  widely-adopted  school  classic ;  and 
everywhere  there  is  the  keenest  appreciation  of  even 
the  most  trifling  circumstance  over  which  the  glam- 
our of  his  name  is  cast. 

It  was,  then,  from  an  American  man  of  letters, 
come  of  good  Scots  blood,  that  Scott  heard  the  story 
of  the  real  Rebecca.  To  those  who  knew  her,  the 
identification  in  Ivanhoe  presented  small  difficulty. 
Scott  and  Washington  Irving  met  for  the  first  time 
in  the  autumn  of  1817.  Irving  came  to  Abbotsford 
armed  with  a  letter  of  introduction  from  Tom  Camp- 
bell, who  was  aware  of  Scott's  high  estimate  of  Irv- 
ing's  genius.  He  was  most  cordially  received  and 
welcomed  by  Scott  himself,  who  came  limping  to  the 
gate  followed  by  Maida.  Scott  grasped  the  hand  of 
the  stranger  in  a  way  which  made  Irving  feel  as  if 
they  were  already  old  friends.  At  Abbotsford,  Irving 
spent  several  of  the  most  delightful  days  of  his  life, 
rambling  from  morn  till  night  about  the  hills  and 
streams  ;  listening  to  old  tales  told  as  no  one  but 
Scott  could  tell  them  ;  and  charmed  by  the  storied 
and  poetical  associations  of  the  Tweed.  A  warm,  mu- 
tual attachment  ensued.  Scott  was  forty-six,  and  in 
the  brilliancy  of  his  early  fame.  Irving  was  thirty- 
four,  and  just  rising  in  literary  reputation  by  the  fav- 
ourable reception  of  his  Salmagundi  and  the  Knicker- 
bocker History  of  New  York.  Scott's  opinion  of  Irv- 
ing is  expressed  in  a  letter  to  John  Richardson  of 

288 


im. 


tie 

me 

tap- 
In-- 
aad 
tie 
lof 

ring 
life, 
and 
but 

"■ 
3 


"REBECCA" 

Kirklands  :  "  When  you  see  Tom  Campbell,  tell  him 
with  my  love  that  I  have  to  thank  him  for  making  me 
known  to  Mr.  Washington  Irving,  who  is  one  of  the 
best  and  pleasantest  acquaintances  I  have  made  this 
many  a  day."  Irving's  opinion  of  Scott  is  given  in  a 
letter  to  Paulding  :  "  I  cannot  express  my  delight  at 
his  character  and  manners.  He  is  a  sterling  golden- 
hearted  old  worthy,  full  of  the  joyousness  of  youth, 
with  a  charming  simplicity  of  manner  that  puts  you 
at  ease  in  a  moment." 

To  this  friendship  we  owe  the  character  of  Rebecca 
in  Ivanhoe.  During  one  of  their  many  conversations, 
when  personal  and  family  affairs  were  the  topics, 
Irving  confided  to  Scott  an  account  of  the  great 
tragedy  of  his  life — the  death  of  his  fiancee,  Mathilda 
Hoffman,  and  the  beautiful  devotion  of  her  friend, 
Rebecca  Gratz,  of  Philadelphia.  Miss  Hoffman  was 
the  daughter  of  Josiah  Ogden  Hoffman  of  New  York. 
To  her  Irving  formed  an  attachment  which  was  re- 
ciprocated. Both  were  handsome  and  engaging  figures 
in  the  social  circles  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia, 
and  they  were  equally  attractive  in  the  strength  and 
beauty  of  their  intellectual  qualities.  But  in  the  midst 
of  his  dreams  of  future  bliss,  the  blow  fell  like  a  bolt 
from  the  blue  which  reduced  Irving's  world  to  chaos 
and  all  but  distracted  him.  Mathilda  Hoffman  was 
seized  with  consumption.  She  faded  away  in  a  single 
winter,  dying  in  1809  at  the  age  of  eighteen  : 

"  A  saint  though  but  a  child  in  years, 

Older  in  goodness  than  her  grey  compeers." 
289  T 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS      I      IVANHOE 

Irving  was  then  twenty-six.  He  lived  forty-four  years 
longer,  treasuring  to  the  end  (like  Scott)  the  memory 
of  his  lost  and  only  true  love.    He  slept  with  her  Bible 
and  Prayer  Book  beneath  his  pillow,  and  when  he 
passed  away,  there  was  found  in  his  home  at  Sunny- 
side  a  little  repository  of  which  no  one  but  himself 
knew  the  secret.    It  was  opened  ;  a  memorandum 
told  the  story  of  his  sorrow,  and  there  lay  the  picture 
of  his  betrothed,  a  braid  of  her  golden  hair,  and  a  slip 
of  paper,  on  which  he  had  written  "  Mathilda  Hoff- 
man."   In  his  notebook  he  wrote  :  "  She  died  in  the 
beauty  of  her  youth,  and  in  my  memory  she  will 
ever  be  young  and  beautiful."    In  "St.  Mark's  Eve  " 
in  Bracebridge  Hall,  Irving  was  thinking  of  the  van- 
ished "  light  of  his  eyes  "  when  he  says  :  "  There  are 
departed  beings  that  I  have  loved  as  I  shall  never  love 
again  in  this  world — that  have  loved  me  as  I  never 
again  shall  be  loved."    In  "  Rural  Funerals  "  in  the 
Sketch  Book  ,the  same  tinge  of  quiet  sadness  is  apparent . 
Now  Miss  Hoffman  had  a  friend  who  was  almost  as 
dear  to  her  as  Irving  himself.    When  sufferings  came, 
and  the  last  shadows  stole  round  the  sick-bed,  it  was 
that  friend  who  was  the  best  of  ministering  angels.  As 
has  been  said,  she  was  Rebecca  Gratz.    Scott  also 
heard  her  story  from  the  lips  of  Washington  Irving  ; 
and  it  was  the  recital  of  Rebecca's  love  romance  and 
sacrifice  which  captured  Scott's  imagination.    Miss 
Gratz  had  experienced  a  noble  affection  for  one  of  the 
many  suitors  who  sighed  for  her  hand,  but  her  relig- 
ion rose  up  an  insuperable  barrier  between  her  and 

290 


ii 


REBECCA 


every  boon  that  the  world  could  bestow.  Loyal  to 
the  ancestral  faith,  she  could  not  conscientiously  take 
the  step  of  uniting  with  one  of  a  different  creed.  Had 
she  mingled  only  with  her  own  people  her  position 
had  been  easier  to  understand.  But  accustomed  to 
the  society  of  Christians,  loving  them,  and  beloved 
by  them,  her  attachment  to  the  beliefs  and  hopes  of 
Israel  is  rendered  more  conspicuous,  and  her  firmness 
in  the  struggle  between  inclination  and  duty  may  be 
considered  an  index  of  the  exalted  character  of  the 
woman.  Like  Irving,  Rebecca  Gratz  lived  the  life  of 
a  celibate.  She  wedded  herself  to  the  most  varied 
acts  of  philanthropy,  and  the  rest  of  her  career  be- 
came one  long  chain  of  golden  deeds.  In  the  last  chap- 
ter of  Ivanhoe  the  whole  spirit  of  the  life  of  Rebecca 
Gratz  is  summed  up  in  the  words  of  Isaac's  daughter 
when  she  bade  farewell  to  Rowena,  who  had  asked  if 
there  were  a  convent  of  her  sect  to  which  she  could 
retire :  "  No,  lady,"  said  the  Jewess,  "  but  among 
our  people  since  the  time  of  Abraham  have  been 
women  who  contributed  their  thoughts  to  Heaven 
and  their  actions  to  works  of  kindness  to  men,  tend- 
ing the  sick,  feeding  the  hungry,  and  relieving  the  dis- 
tressed. Among  these  will  Rebecca  be  numbered.  Say 
this  to  thy  lord  should  he  chance  to  inquire  after  the 
fate  of  her  whose  life  he  saved."  Thus  it  came  about 
that  in  the  streets  of  Philadelphia  Rebecca  Gratz  was 
hardly  less  known  as  "the  good  Jewess  "  than  as 
"  the  beautiful  Jewess."  As  for  her  personal  appear- 
ance, her  admirers  were  wont  to  say  that  when  she  was 
291 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS      :      IVANHOE 

young  she  needed  only  the  Eastern  attire  to  have  sat 
for  the  study  of  Scott's  mediaeval  Jewess.  Had  Sir 
Walter  met  her  he  could  not  have  given  a  more  finish- 
ed description  of  the  New  World's  lovely  daughter  of 
Zion  :  "The  figure  of  Rebecca  might  indeed  have  com- 
pared with  the  proudest  beauties  of  England,  even 
though  it  had  been  judged  by  as  shrewd  a  connoisseur 
as  Prince  John.  Her  form  was  exquisitely  symmet- 
rical, and  was  shown  to  advantage  by  a  sort  of  East- 
ern dress,  which  she  wore  according  to  the  fashion  of 
the  females  of  her  nation.  Her  turban  of  yellow  silk 
suited  well  with  the  darkness  of  her  complexion.  The 
brilliancy  of  her  eyes,  the  superb  arch  of  her  eyebrows, 
her  well-formed  aquiline  nose,  her  teeth  as  white  as 
pearl,  and  the  profusion  of  her  sable  tresses,  which, 
each  arranged  in  its  own  little  spiral  of  twisted  curls, 
fell  down  upon  as  much  of  a  lovely  neck  and  bosom  as 
a  simarre  of  the  richest  Persian  silk,  exhibiting  flowers 
in  their  natural  colours  embossed  upon  a  purple 
ground,  permitted  to  be  visible — all  these  constituted 
a  combination  of  loveliness  which  yielded  not  to  the 
most  beautiful  of  the  maidens  who  surrounded  her. 
It  is  true,  that  of  the  golden  and  pearl-studded  clasps, 
which  closed  her  vest  from  the  throat  to  the  waist, 
the  three  uppermost  were  left  unfastened  on  account 
of  the  heat,  which  something  enlarged  the  prospect  to 
which  we  allude.  A  diamond  necklace,  with  pend- 
ants of  inestimable  value,  were  by  this  means  also 
made  more  conspicuous.    The  feather  of  an  ostrich, 

fastened  in  her  turban  by  an  agraffe  set  with  bril- 

202 


" REBECCA " 

Hants,  was  another  distinction  of  the  beautiful  Jewess, 
scoffed  and  sneered  at  by  the  proud  dames  who  sat 
above  her,  but  secretly  envied  by  those  who  affected 
to  deride  them." 

Miss  Gratz's  portrait  was  painted  by  Malbone,  and 
by  Thomas  Sully,  an  English  artist  who  had  studied 
in  Philadelphia.  The  latter  declared  that  he  had  never 
seen  a  more  striking  Hebraic  face.  The  easy  pose, 
suggestive  of  perfect  health,  the  delicately  turned 
neck  and  shoulders  with  the  firmly  poised  head  and 
its  profusion  of  dark,  curling  hair,  large,  clear  black 
eyes,  the  contour  of  the  face,  the  fine  white  skin,  the 
expressive  mouth  and  the  firmly  chiselled  nose,  with 
its  strength  of  character,  left  no  doubt  as  to  the  race 
from  which  she  had  sprung.  Possessed  of  an  elegant 
bearing,  a  melodiously  sympathetic  voice,  a  simple 
and  frank  and  gracious  womanliness,  there  was  about 
Rebecca  Gratz  all  that  a  princess  of  the  blood  Royal 
might  have  coveted. 

Michael  Gratz,  her  father,  was  a  native  of  Langer- 
dorff  in  Upper  Silesia,  the  family  name  being  derived 
from  the  town  of  Gratz  in  Styria.  When  a  mere  youth 
he  emigrated  to  America,  and  engaged  in  the  business 
of  supplying  Indian  traders  with  merchandise.  He 
grew  wealthy,  married  Miriam  Symons  of  Lancaster, 
Pa.,  and  of  his  eleven  children  Rebecca  was  born  on 
4th  March  1781,  and  lived  to  complete  her  87th  year, 
a  charming  woman  to  the  end.  She  died  27th  Aug- 
ust 1869.  "  I  commend  my  spirit  to  the  God  who 
gave  it,"  she  said,  "  believing  with  firm  faith  in  the 
293 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS      :      IVANHOE 

religion  of  my  fathers  :  hear,  0  Israel,  the  Lord  God 
is  one  God."  Her  dust  reposes  in  a  graveyard  which 
the  Jews  of  Philadelphia  used  more  than  a  century 
and  a  half  ago  and  the  gates  of  which  were  violated 
by  the  British  as  the  place  of  execution  for  their  de- 
serters. 

Scott  finished  Ivanhoe  in  1819,  two  years  after  Irv- 
ing's  visit.  One  of  the  first  copies  was  dispatched  to 
Irving  along  with  a  letter  in  which  the  question  was 
put,  "  How  do  you  like  your  Rebecca  ?  Does  the  Re- 
becca I  have  pictured,  compare  well  with  the  pattern 
given  ?  " 

Scott  has  been  censured  for  not  ultimately  unit- 
ing Wilfrid  to  Rebecca  rather  than  to  the  less  inter- 
esting Rowena.  He  defended  himself  by  declaring 
that  the  prejudices  of  the  age  made  such  a  union  al- 
most impossible,  while  he  thought  that  a  character 
so  highly  virtuous  and  lofty  would  have  been  de- 
graded rather  than  exalted  in  the  attempt  to  reward 
virtue  with  temporal  prosperity.  "  Such,"  he  said, 
"was  not  the  recompense  which  Providence  usu- 
ally deemed  worthy  of  suffering  merit.  In  a  word," 
he  observed,  "  if  a  virtuous  and  self-denying  char- 
acter is  dismissed  with  temporal  wealth,  happiness, 
rank,  and  the  indulgence  of  such  a  rashly-formed  and 
ill-assorted  passion  as  that  of  Rebecca  for  Ivanhoe, 
the  reader  will  be  apt  to  say,  '  Verily,  virtue  has  had 
its  reward.'  But  a  glance  on  the  great  picture  of  life 
will  show  that  the  duties  of  self-denial  and  the  sacri- 
fice of  passion  to  principle  are  seldom  thus  remuner- 

294 


>•?*>->.'- 


" REBECCA " 

ated  ;  and  that  the  internal  consciousness  of  their 
high-minded  discharge  of  duty  produced  on  their  own 
reflections  a  more  adequate  recompense  in  the  form 
of  that  peace  which  the  world  cannot  give  or  take 
away." 


CHAPTER  EIGHTEEN 

THE  PIRATE 
"CAPTAIN  CLEVELAND" 


Robin  Rover  said  to  his  crew, 
'  Up  with  the  black  flag, 
Down  with  the  blue.'  " 

Scott. 


CHAPTER  EIGHTEEN  THE 

PIRATE     "CAPTAIN  CLEVELAND" 

CHIEFSWOOD,ONTHEABBOTSFORD  ESTATE, 

was  the  birthplace  of  The  Pirate.  There,  in  the  sura- 
merof  1821,  Scott  spent  some  of  the  pleasantest  hours 
of  his  life.  In  the  early  morning  he  walked  or  rode 
over  from  his  own  home,  about  a  couple  of  miles  off. 
After  breakfast  he  busied  himself  with  his  chapter, 
prepared  his  packet  (the  previous  day's  work)  for 
"The  Bliicher"  (the  Edinburgh  and  Melrose  Mail- 
coach),  and  then,  for  the  rest  of  the  day,  he  was  his 
"  own  man,"  as  he  was  fond  of  saying.  Lockhart 
(who  never  wore  his  heart  on  his  sleeve)  confesses, 
with  some  emotion,  that  the  years  at  Chiefswood  were 
the  high-water  mark  of  his  own  happiness.  Thither 
he  brought  his  bride,  Sophia  Scott,  for  "  the  first  of 
several  seasons  which  will  ever  dwell  in  my  memory 
as  the  happiest  of  my  life.  We  were  near  enough  Ab- 
botsford  to  partake  as  often  as  we  liked  of  its  brilliant 
society  ;  yet  could  do  so  without  being  exposed  to  the 
worry  and  exhaustion  of  spirit  which  the  daily  recep- 
tion of  new  comers  entailed  upon  all  the  family  except 
Sir  Walter  himself.  But,  in  truth,  even  he  was  not 
always  proof  against  the  annoyances  connected  with 
such  a  style  of  open  housekeeping.  Even  his  temper 
sunk  sometimes  under  the  solemn  applauses  of  learn- 
ed dulness,  the  vapid  raptures  of  painted  and  periwig- 
ged dowagers,  the  horse-leech  avidity  with  which 
underbred  foreigners  urged  their  questions,  and  the 

pompous  simpers  of  condescending  magnates.  When 
299 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS  THE 

sore  beset  at  home  in  this  way,  he  would  every  now  and 
then  discover  that  he  had  some  very  particular  busi- 
ness to  attend  to  on  an  outlying  part  of  his  estate,  and 
craving  the  indulgence  of  his  guests  overnight,  appear 
atthecabinin  the  glen  before  its  inhabitants  wereastir 
in  the  morning.  The  clatter  of  Sibyl  Grey's  hoofs,  the 
yelping  of  Mustard  and  Spice,  with  his  own  joyous 
shout  of  reveille  under  our  windows,  were  the  signal 
that  he  had  burst  his  toils,  and  meant  for  that  day  to 
'  take  his  ease  in  his  inn.'  On  descending,  he  was  to  be 
found  seated  with  all  his  dogs  and  ours  about  him, 
under  a  spreading  ash  that  overshadowed  half  the 
bank  between  the  cottage  and  the  brook,  pointing  the 
edge  of  his  woodman's  axe,  and  listening  to  Tom  Pur- 
die'slecture  touching  the  plantation  that  most  needed 
thinning.  ...  He  would  take  possession  of  a  dress- 
ing-room upstairs,  write  a  chapter  of  The  Pirate ;  and 
then  .  .  .  away  to  join  Purdie  .  .  .  until  it  was  time 
either  to  rejoin  his  own  party  at  Abbotsford,  or  the 
quiet  circle  of  the  cottage." 

Lockhart  describes  the  progress  of  The  Pirate,  the 
"  constant  and  eager  delight "  taken  in  the  tale  by 
that  dearest,  most  intimate  of  all  Sir  Walter's  friends- 
William  Erskine.  Erskine  was  Sheriff  of  the  Orkneys 
— land  of  the  roost  and  the  voe,  towards  which  Scott 
had  turned  in  search  of  further  conquests.  "  Under 
our  favourite  tree"  Erskine  read  aloud  the  MS.  of 
The  Pirate,  "  and  I  can  never  open  the  book,"  says 
Lockhart,  "without  thinking  I  hear  his  voice."  Path- 
etic it  is  to  recall  that  Erskine  (a  six-months'  Lord  of 

300 


B 


.:: 
en 

the 

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to 

be 
m, 

::e 


i! 


-'■ 


w 

re 


;:c 


PIRATE  "CAPTAIN  CLEVELAND" 

Session,  Lord  Kinnedder)  died  only  the  next  August, 
when  (as  Skene  tells  us)  at  his  funeral  Scott  "wept 
like  a  child." 

The  years  have  wrought  little  change  on  Chief  swood. 
A  couple  of  gabled  wings  have  been  added  in  the  red 
stone  of  the  original.  The  dressing-room  of  The  Pir- 
ate is  the  same  as  it  was  ninety  years  since,  but  the 
bureau  at  which  Scott  worked  (seen  here  not  so  long 
ago)  has  been  removed.  In  the  grounds,  the  tiny  well 
(Scott's  wine-cooler)  is  to  the  fore,  and  Lockhart's 
tree  is  living  yet.  A  luxuriance  almost  tropical-look- 
ing clothes  that  once  bare  Dick's  Cleugh,  which  Scott 
in  his  esctasy  rechristened  the  Rhymer's  Glen,  ap- 
propriating for  the  haunts  of  True  Thomas  a  spot 
which  had  not  the  most  distant  connection  with  the 
Seer  of  Ercildoune. 

It  was  at  this  place,  then,  that  the  novel  of  the 
wind-swept  Orcades  took  shape.  Scott  had  visited 
the  islands  during  a  cruise  with  the  Northern  Light- 
house Commissioners,  in  1814,  immediately  after  the 
publication  of  Waverley.  Abundant  material  lay  to 
his  hand,  not  only  in  the  "  five  little  paper  books  " 
which  comprised  his  diary  of  the  trip,  but  his  pro- 
digious memory  must  also  have  served  him  in  good 
stead,  so  magically  does  he  describe  all  that  he  had 
heard  and  seen  of  the  people,  the  natural  features,  the 
customs  and  superstitions  of  Ultima  Thule  : 

"  Land  of  the  dark,  the  Runic  rhyme, 
The  mystic  ring,  the  cavern  hoar, 
The  Scandinavian  seer,  sublime 
In  legendary  lore." 

301 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS  THE 

Scott  made  the  most  of  his  tour.  He  climbed  Sum- 
burgh  Head,  and  "e'en  slid  down  a  few  hundred  feet " 
to  the  beach  where  Mordaunt  rescues  Cleveland  from 
the  waves,  where  Noma  protectshispropertyfrom  the 
wreckers.  He  examined  the  broch  of  Mousa,  model 
of  Noma's  lair.  Excursions  to  the  Dwarfie  Stone  ;  to 
Stennis — the  Scottish  Stonehenge;  to  Kirkwall  Cath- 
edral, "  the  wonder  and  glory  of  all  the  North,"  are 
each  reflected  in  the  story.  Scott  missed  nothing,  and 
forgot  nothing — not  even  the  curiously  absurd  little 
corn-mills  of  the  islands,  and  the  stupid  one-stilted 
ploughs  only  passing  out  of  use  at  the  time  of  his 
visit . 

It  is  in  the  characteristic  vividness  of  its  scenic 
descriptions  that  the  charm  of  The  Pirate  is  found. 
But  many  of  the  characters,  if  somewhat  strained,  are 
admirable.  Nothing  could  be  finer  than  the  hospit- 
able old  Udaller  (a  sort  of  Cedric)  and  his  household. 
Perhaps  the  best  of  the  male  characters  is  the  mis- 
sionary agriculturist  Yellowley  (did  Scott  borrow  the 
name  from  Will  Yellowlees  of  Mellerstain  ?).  The 
equestrian  adventures  of  Babby  and  himself  on  their 
way  to  the  Troil  feast  are  considered  to  equal  any- 
thing in  Fielding  or  Smollett.  Claud  Halcro  (gay 
scald)  "  bores  "  with  his  catchwords  but  compensates 
with  his  songs.  Cleveland,  pirate  more  of  the  heart 
than  of  the  sea,  is  surely  the  most  inconsistent  figure 
in  Scott,  and  therefore  a  failure.  Even  Noma,  sove- 
reign of  the  elements,  devotee  of  the  dead  deities  and 

broken  faiths  of  Thule,  is  not  a  happily-conceived 

302 


PIRATE  "CAPTAIN  CLEVELAND" 

character.  It  is  Minna  and  Brenda,  that  matchless 
pair,  who  shine  in  the  story.  Nothing  can  be  more 
beautiful  than  the  description  of  those  winsome 
sisters  and  the  gentle  and  innocent  affection  that  con- 
tinues to  unite  them,  even  after  love  has  come  to 
divide  their  interests  and  wishes.  Never  was  there 
a  perfecter  study  in  womanly  contrasts  —  tempera- 
ment, depth  of  passion,  personal  appearance — Minna, 
"  dark  and  stormy  as  an  Oriental  night ;  Brenda, 
serene  and  lustrous  as  a  Shetland  summer  day." 
"  Like  Mordaunt  in  early  years,  we  know  not  to  which 
of  them  our  hearts  are  given."  * 


II 

It  was  from  Bessie  Millie,  the  Stromness  sibyl,  that 
Scott  heard  the  story  of  John  Gow  the  pirate,  on 
whose  brief,  inglorious  career  he  founded  his  Cap- 
tain Cleveland.  Bessie  herself  was  Noma's  proto- 
type, answering  well  to  the  picture  of  the  hag  in  the 
novel.    She  made  her  living  by  selling  winds  to  the 

*  Originals  (in  externals  only)  have  been  found  for  Minna  and 
Brenda  in  the  Scotts  of  Scalloway  ;  in  the  daughters  of  William 
Roy  of  Nenthorn  ;  in  the  Scotts  of  Deloraine  ;  and  in  Catherine 
and  AnneMorrittof  Rokeby.  The  latter  (nieces  of  Scott's  friend) 
were  known  in  their  family  circle  by  the  names  in  the  novel,  and 
"  no  doubt  was  ever  expressed  on  the  subject  "  of  identity.  The 
claim  is  equally  persistent  and  strong  for  the  daughters  of  Henry 
Scott  of  Deloraine,  Sir  Walter  himself  "having  said  as  much." 
Margaret,  the  eldest  (afterwards  wife  of  Dr.  Thomas  Anderson 
of  Selkirk),  is  said  to  have  stood  for  Brenda;  and  Eliza,  the 
youngest  (afterwards  wife  of  the  Rev.  William  Berry  Shaw  of 
Langholm),  for  Minna. 

303 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS  THE 

sailors — favourable  winds  which  were  sure  to  come — 
in  time.  Nearly  a  hundred  years  old,  she  was  "with- 
ered and  dried  up  like  a  mummy.  A  clay-coloured 
kerchief  folded  round  her  head  corresponded  in 
colour  to  her  corpse-like  complexion.  Two  light- 
blue  eyes  that  gleamed  with  a  lustre  like  that  of  in- 
sanity, a  nose  and  chin  that  almost  met  together,  and 
a  ghastly  expression  of  cunning  gave  her  the  effect  of 
Hecate." 

Gow's  story  can  be  told  in  few  words.  He  was  a 
native  either  of  Scrabster,  near  Thurso,  or  of  Clais- 
tron,  on  the  other  side  of  Cairston  Roads.  About 
1716  his  father,  William  Gow,  settled  in  Strom- 
ness,  where  he  built  a  house,  Gowsness,  on  "  ane 
piece  of  wast  land  lying  on  the  shoar  of  Hammin- 
gar,  upon  the  neck  of  the  poynt  called  Ramsness." 
A  sasine  in  favour  of  himself,  his  wife — Margaret 
Calder,  and  John,  his  eldest  son,  is  still  extant.  Leav- 
ing school,  young  Gow  went  to  sea.  We  have  no 
further  mention  of  him  until  the  year  1724 — the 
date  at  which  he  appears  in  the  pages  of  Defoe's 
narrative.*  Gow  was  then  a  full-blown  pirate, 
whose  flying  of  the  "Jolly  Roger"  was  destined 
to  be  as  short  and  swift  as  it  was  bold  and  venture- 
some. 

Gow  had  been  boatswain  on  an  English  sloop,  ply- 

*  It  is  not  a  little  singular  that  the  career  of  John  Gow  should 
have  engaged  the  attention  of  two  of  the  world's  greatest  story- 
tellers— the  author  of  Robinson  Crusoe  and  the  author  of  Waverley. 
Of  Daniel  Defoe's  account  of  Gow  (printed  in  1725)  only  one  copy 
is  known  to  exist — that  in  the  British  Museum  Library. 

304 


PIRATE  "CAPTAIN  CLEVELAND" 

ing  between  Lisbon  and  London.  He  proposed  to  the 
crew  to  seize  the  vessel,  and  to  work  it  for  their  own 
profit — a  suggestion  scouted  by  every  man  of  them. 
Arrived  in  the  Thames,  the  captain  was  informed 
of  the  matter,  and  an  attempt  to  arrest  Gow  failed. 
He  escaped  to  Holland,  and  after  a  time  shipped 
at  Amsterdam  as  a  fore-mast  hand  on  board  the 
George,  an  English  galley,  200  tons  burden,  carrying 
eight  guns,  and  captained  by  a  Guernsey  man,  Oliver 
Ferneau.  During  that  summer  the  Dutch  were  at 
war  with  the  Dey  of  Algiers,  and  were  glad  to  avail 
themselves  of  the  help  of  neutral  bottoms  for  the  pro- 
secution of  their  Mediterranean  trade.  The  George 
was  chartered  to  proceed  to  Santa  Cruz  on  the  Bar- 
bary  Coast  to  load  up  with  a  cargo  of  beeswax  for 
Genoa.  On  the  return  voyage  Gow,  a  most  compet- 
ent seaman,  was  appointed  second  mate,  a  post  which 
did  not  prevent  him  fomenting  a  plot  to  take  posses- 
sion of  the  ship.  He  was  overheard  and  reproved. 
He  attained  his  object  not  many  days  afterwards. 
The  crew  mutinied,  murdered  the  chief  officers,  put 
Gow  at  their  head,  and  changed  the  name  of  the 
George  into  the  Revenge.  Williams,  who  acted  as 
Gow's  lieutenant ,  may  be  regarded  as  the  Goff e  of  The 
Pirate — Cleveland's  rival.  A  sloop,  bound  with  a  car- 
go of  fish  to  Cadiz,  was  their  first  prize.  Having  taken 
what  they  wanted,  they  sunk  her.  After  that,  they 
seized  several  vessels  of  various  nationalities,  until 
finally,  in  the  middle  of  January  1725,  they  found 

themselves  in  Cairston  Roads  close  to  Gow's  reputed 

305  u 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS  THE 

birthplace.    Their  intention  was  to  plunder  on  land 
as  well  as  on  sea,  and  raids  were  proposed  to  be 
made  on  certain  houses  which  stood  unguarded  by 
the  shore.    One  of  Gow's  men  had  been  permitted  to 
land,  and  without  any  suspicion  to  be  absent  from 
the  ship  for  hours  at  a  time.    He  gave  his  comrades 
the  slip,  escaped  to  Kirkwall,  surrendered  to  the  au- 
thorities, and  told  everything.    Kirkwall  was  only 
about  twelve  miles  from  where  the  Revenge  lay  at 
anchor.  It  was  resolved  to  take  instant  action.  Other 
ten  of  Gow's  men  now  deserted  him  in  the  longboat, 
making  for  the  Caithness  coast.    But  "  hardened  for 
his  own  destruction,"  Gow  grew  bolder,  and  "not- 
withstanding that  the  Country  was  alarm' d,  and  that 
he  was  fully  discover'd,  instead  of  making  a  timely 
Escape,"  he  determined  to  put  his  project  into  exe- 
cution, whatever  the  cost.    "  In  Order  to  this,  he  sent 
the  Boatswain  and  10  Men  on  Shore  the  very  same 
Night,  very  well  Arm'd,  directing  them  to  go  to  the 
House  of  Mr.Honnyman  of  Grahamsey,  Sheriff  of  the 
County,  and  who  was  himself  at  that  Time,  to  his 
great  good  Fortune,  from  Home.   The  People  of  the 
House  had  not  the  least  Notice  of  their  coming,  so 
that  when  they  knock'dat  the  Door,  it  was  immedi- 
ately open'd ;  upon  when  they  all  enter' d  the  House 
at  once,  except  one  Panton,  whom  they  set  Centi- 
nel,  and  order'd  him  to  stand  at  the  Door  to  secure 
their  Retreat,  and  to  secure  any  from  coming  in  after 
them. 

"Mrs.Honnyman  and  herDaughter  were  extremely 

306 


PIRATE  "CAPTAIN  CLEVELAND" 

Frighted  at  the  sight  of  so  many  Armed  Men  coming 
into  the  House,  and  ran  screaming  about  like  People 
Distracted,  while  the  Pirates,  not  regarding  them, 
were  looking  about  for  Chests  and  Trunks,where  they 
might  expect  to  find  some  Plunder.    And  Mrs.  Hon- 
nyman,  in  her  Fright,  coming  to  the  Door,  ask'd  Pan- 
ton  what  the  meaning  of  it  all  was  ?    And  he  told  her 
freely  they  were  Pirates,  and  that  they  came  to  plun- 
der the  House.   At  this  she  recovered  some  Courage, 
and  ran  back  into  the  House  immediately  ;    and 
knowing,  to  be  sure,  where  her  Money  lay,  which  was 
very  considerable,  and  all  in  gold,  she  put  the  Bags 
in  her  Lap,  and  boldly  rushing  by  Panton,  who 
thought  she  was  only  running  from  them  in  a  Fright, 
carryed  it  all  off,  and  so  made  her  Escape  with  the 
Treasure.    The  Boatswain  being  inform'd  that  the 
Money  was  carryed  off,  resolved  to  revenge  himself 
by  burning  the  Writings  and  Papers,  which  they  call 
there  the  Charter  of  their  Estates  ;  but  the  young 
Lady,    Mr.    Honnyman's   Daughter,  hearing  them 
threaten  to  burn  the  Writings,  watch'd  her  Oppor- 
tunity, and  running  to  the  Charter  Room,  where  they 
lay,  and  tying  the  most  considerable  of  them  in  a 
Napkin,  threw  them  out  of  the  Window,  jumpt  after 
them  herself,  and  Escaped  without  Damage ;  though 
the  Window  was  one  Story  high  at  least.    However, 
the  Pirates  had  the  Plundering  of  all  the  rest  of  the 
House,  and  carryed  off  a  great  deal  of  Plate  and 
Things  of  Value ;  and  forced  one  of  the  Servants,  who 
played  very  well  on  the  Bagpipe,  to  march  along, 
307 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS  THE 

Piping  before  them,  when  they  carryed  them  off  to 
the  Ship."  * 

Gow  now  purposed  to  plunder  the  house  of  his  old 
schoolfellow,  Fea  of  Claistron.  Fea  had,  however, 
been  laying  plans  for  the  capture  of  the  Revenge. 
And  on  13th  Febuary  1725,  he  succeeded,  through  a 
stratagem,  in  taking  Gow  and  most  of  his  men,  at  a 
public-house  hard  by  his  own  home.  The  pirates 
were  conveyed  to  London.  At  the  trial  Gow  refused 
to  plead,  but  the  threat  of  squeezing  his  thumbs  with 
a  whipcord  (technically  called  "  pressing  to  death  ") 
took  all  the  bravado  out  of  him.  He  pled  to  the  in- 
dictment, was  found  guilty,  and  executed  nth  June 
1725.  When  he  had  hung  four  minutes  the  rope 
snapped,  but  the  unhappy  wretch  mounted  the  ladder 
a  second  time  "with  very  little  concern."  As  Defoe 
quaintly  says :  "  It  was  as  if  Providence  had  directed 
that  he  should  be  twice  hang'd,  his  crimes  being  of  a 
twofold  nature,  and  both  capital." 

Love  plays  its  part  in  the  tale.  Cleveland  loved 
Minna  and  the  real  buccaneer  had  his  love-romance 
too.  At  the  Stone  of  Odin — that  northern  stone  of 
Destiny  where  thousand  hearts  Orcadian  vowed  to 
be  true  till  death — John  Gow  and  Katherine  Gordon  f 

*  Defoe's  Narrative. 

fNot  Katherine  Gordon,  but  Katherine  Rorieson,was  the  lady's 
name.  Her  father,  Bailie  Rorieson  of  Thurso,  disapproved  of 
the  pirate  for  a  son-in-law.  Katherine  married  George  Gibson, 
schoolmaster  of  the  island  of  Stroma.  Gow  is  said  to  have  at- 
tempted to  carry  off  his  betrothed  by  force  from  Stroma. — Caith- 
ness Family  History. 

303 


I 


PIRATE  "CAPTAIN  CLEVELAND" 

plighted  their  troth.  That  lady  travelled  to  London 
for  a  last  meeting  with  her  lover — but  Gow  had  passed 
his  agony  before  she  could  arrive.  She  sought  a  sight 
of  his  dead  body,  took  the  cold  responseless  hand  in 
her  own,  and  formally  revoked  the  Odin  promise. 

"  Give  me  my  faith  and  troth,  Margaret, 
As  I  gave  it  to  thee." 


CHAPTER  NINETEEN 

ST.  RONAN'S  WELL 
"MEG  DODS" 


"  She  speaks  poinards,  and  every  word  stabs." 

Shakespeare. 


CHAPTER  NINETEEN 

ST.  RONAN'S  WELL       "  MEG  DODS  " 

IN  ST.  RONAN'S  WELL  WE  HAVE  SCOTT'S 

solitary  essay  in  contemporary  fiction.  Scott  wrote 
of  this  work  that  it  was  "  upon  a  plan  different  from 
any  other  that  the  author  has  ever  written,"  and  he 
declares  that  it  was  an  attempt  to  imitate  the  sub- 
ject and  style  of  the  novels  of  Miss  Edgeworth,  Miss 
Ferrier,  and  Miss  Austen.  He  determined  to  turn 
aside  from  public  life  and  the  higher  topics  which  had 
hitherto  occupied  his  pen  and  make  his  story  turn 
uponthegossip  and  the  petty  intrigues  of  an  unimport- 
ant Scottish  watering-place. 

The  novel  was  published  before  Christmas,  1823, 
and  was  coldly  enough  received  by  English  readers,  a 
judgment  from  which  Scott's  own  countrymen  stout- 
ly dissented.  There  are  characters  and  passages  in 
the  story  which  may  be  set  alongside  any  of  Scott's 
previous  work.  The  novel  does  not  reach  the  pinnacle 
height  of  The  Antiquary  or  Guy  Mannering.  It  does 
not  rank  even  as  high  as  The  Monastery  and  Peveril, 
but  it  possesses  extraordinary  interest,  and  apart 
from  the  unfortunate  conclusion,  it  is  as  high  as  any 
novel  of  its  class.  Balzac,  curiously,  considered  St. 
Ronan's  Well  the  "  most  finished  "  of  all  Scott's  pro- 
ductions. There  is  general  unanimity  as  to  Scott's 
blunder  in  submitting  to  Ballantyne's  "  Philistine 
prudery  "  in  protesting  against  the  original  story, 
in  which  Clara  did  not  discover  the  cheat  put  on  her 
until  a  later  period  than  the  mock  marriage.  There 
313 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

was  really  no  occasion  for  Aldiborontiphoscophornio's 
supersensitive  interference.  But  what  is  all  the  pother 
about  ?  As  Professor  Saintsbury  has  pointed  out,  no 
law  and  no  church  in  Christendom  would  have  hesi- 
tated to  declare  the  nullity  of  a  marriage  which  had 
never  been  consummated,  and  which  was  celebrated 
while  one  of  the  parties  took  the  other  for  some  one 
else.  Clara  Mowbray  is  clearly  innocent.  Her  brain 
must  have  been  shaken  by  some  undescribed  trouble. 
Lockhart  hints  what  it  was,  but  the  "  catastrophe  ,: 
is  fully  explained  by  Mr.  J.  M.  Colly's  note  to  the 
Athenceum  of  4th  February  1893,  in  which  extracts 
are  printed  from  the  original  proof-sheets.  The  truth 
is  Clara  had  compromised  with  Tyrell,  her  real  lover, 
and  on  the  head  of  this  and  the  affront  of  the  false  mar- 
riage, her  mental  balance  became  overthrown.  Her 
tragedy  is  one  of  the  highest  efforts  in  romance. 

Of  the  other  characters,  that  meddlesome,  but 
well-meaning  old  Nabob,  Mr.  Peregrine  Touchwood, 
is  a  thoroughly  original  figure,  and  Meg  Dods,  pearl 
of  alehouse-keepers,  "the  modern  and  more  than  Mrs. 
Quickly,"  deserves  a  place,  as  Lockhart  says,  beside 
Monkbarns,  the  Bailie,  and  the  inimitable  Dalgetty. 
The  widow,  Mrs.  Blower,  afterwards  Mrs.  Quackle- 
ben,  is  one  of  Scott's  very  best  characters. 

As  to  the  genesis  of  the  novel,  while  Scott,  Laidlaw, 
and  Lockhart  were  riding  along  the  brow  of  the  Eil- 
dons,  Scott  mentioned  the  "row"  (as  he  called  it) 
which  was  going  on  in  Paris  over  Quentin  Durward, 
meaning  Quentin' s  rousing  reception  by  the  Parisians : 

314 


ST.  RONAN'S  WELL  «  MEG  DODS" 

"  I  can't  but  think  I  could  make  better  play  still  with 
something  German,"  Scott  said.  Laidlaw  protested  : 
"  You  are  always  best,  like  Helen  MacGregor,  when 
your  foot  is  on  your  native  heath,  and  I  have  often 
thought  if  you  were  to  write  a  novel  and  lay  the 
scene  here,  in  the  very  year  you  are  writing  it,  you 
would  exceed  yourself."  "Hame's  hame,"  quoth 
Scott,  smiling,  "  be  it  ever  sae  namely,"  and  Laid- 
law bade  him  "stick  to  Melrose  in  1823."  But  in 
the  next  fiction  there  is  never  a  hint  of  Melrose. 
Scott  laid  his  scene  elsewhere.  Lockhart  and  Laid- 
law believed  that  this  conversation  on  the  hill  over- 
looking Melrose  and  Gattonside  suggested  St.  Ron- 
an's  Well,  the  locale  of  which,  Innerleithen,  a  mere 
village,  at  once  assumed  to  itself.  It  is  possible  that 
Scott  had  Innerleithen  in  view,  or  was  it  Peebles  ? 
Marchthorn  may  be  Peebles,  the  Earl  of  March  (now 
Wemyss)  being  its  principal  landowner,  andin  Peebles, 
according  to  William  Chambers,  dwelt  Miss  Ritchie, 
the  true  Original  of  the  termagant  landlady  of  the 
Cleikum  Inn,*  which,  as  the  Cross  Keys,  still  exists. 
There  are  indications,  however,  that  Gilsland,  where 
Charlotte  Carpenter  was  wooed  and  won  twenty-five 
years  before,  was  the  locality  of  the  new  tale,  or  had 
at  least  contributed  to  it.  Shaws  Castle  may  stand 
for  Traquair  House,  or  Neidpath  Castle,  as  some  say, 
but  the  name  is  more  suggestive  of  Shaws  Hotel  at 

*  Mr.  Lang  thinks  that  The  Crook,  a  now  defunct  Inn  in 
Tweedsmuir  parish,  may  have  suggested  the  name  "Cleikum." 
In  Scots,  the  crook  or  cleek  is  the  hook  on  which  pots  over  a 
fire'are  hung. 

315 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

Gilsland,  where  Scott  stayed  during  his  sojourn  in 
1797.  Much  of  the  scenery  of  the  novel  harmonises 
with  that  of  the  little  Cumberland  watering-place, 
and  the  setting  of  the  story  in  some  respects  is  more 
English  than  Scottish. 

As  for  Innerleithen,  Scott  knew  the  place  well. 
One  of  his  intimates,  Dr.  Wilkie,  was  surgeon  there ; 
and  with  Peebles  he  was  as  familiar.  In  the  one  place 
he  would  be  aware  of  its  mineral  spring,  then  rising 
into  fame ;  in  the  other,  he  may  have  encountered 
his  paragon  of  despotic  landladies.  Innerleithen  in 
Scott's  day  was  a  characteristically  primitive  hamlet, 
having  a  population  less  than  six  hundred.  Its  Spa, 
known  as  the  Doo's  Well,  from  the  flocks  of  pigeons 
which  made  it  their  haunt,  was  a  very  uninviting  spot. 
The  first  visitors  drank  the  waters  at  the  source,  stand- 
ing amid  spongy  grass  and  wet  clay,  there  being 
but  a  plain  wooden  bench  for  the  aged  and  infirm. 
By  and  by,  Lord  Traquair  (the  laird)  had  suitable 
accommodation  erected.  The  mineral  properties  of 
the  fountain  were  not  discovered  till  near  the  end  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  and  not  for  many  years  after- 
wards did  the  Well  really  come  to  its  own.  The  pub- 
lication of  Scott's  novel  ushered  in  the  period  of  its 
greatest  glory,  and  visitors  were  further  attracted  by 
an  annual  festival  established  by  an  association  known 
as  the  St.  Ronan's  Border  Club.  Amongst  those  who 
countenanced,  or  took  part  in  the  proceedings,  were 
Scott  and  Adam  Ferguson,  Christopher  North  and 

the  Ettrick  Shepherd,  Sheriff  Glassford  Bell,  and 

316 


ST.  RONAN'S  WELL  "  MEG  DODS  " 

others.  It  was  under  the  patronage  of  these  notables 
that  the  famous  Border  Games  which  Lockhart  de- 
scribes in  the  Biography  came  into  being.  Hogg  was 
generally  the  presiding  genius  on  these  occasions,  and 
it  was  the  greatest  evening  of  his  year  when,  sup- 
ported by  Scott  and  his  friends,  he  filled  the  presi- 
dent's chair  at  the  distribution  of  the  prizes,  some 
of  which  were  gained  by  himself,  even  after  he  had 
reached  years  three-score.  The  Games  are  still  held, 
though  shorn  of  their  original  character,  and  possess- 
ing a  mere  remnant  of  their  ancient  glory. 

II 

Meg  Dods  is  incomparably  the  best  Scottish  char- 
acter in  St.  Ronan's  Well.  Scott  borrowed  the  name 
from  Mrs.  Margaret  Dods,  at  whose  little  inn  at  How- 
gate,  among  the  Moorfoots,  with  Will  Clerk,  and  John 
Irving,  and  George  Abercromby,  he  spent  a  night 
during  a  fishing  excursion  in  their  student  days. 
When  the  novel  was  published,  Clerk  met  Scott  in  the 
street,  and  observed,  "  That's  an  odd  name ;  surely 
I  have  met  with  it  somewhere  before."  Scott  smil- 
ingly replied,  "  Don't  you  remember  Howgate,"  and 
passed  on.  The  name  alone,  however,  was  taken  from 
the  Howgate  hostess. 

According  to  a  well-grounded  tradition  of  the  town 
of  Peebles,  it  was  Miss  Marion  Ritchie  who  was  the 
prototype  of  Scott's  landlady  of  the  olden  time,  his 
"  lady  of  Luckies,"  as  Gilfillan  styles  her.  There  are 
resemblances  in  their  family  history.  Miss  Ritchie 
317 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

succeeded  her  father  in  the  business  of  inn-keeper  or 
vintner  ;  so  did  the  redoubted  Meg.  Miss  Ritchie's 
father,  Walter  Ritchie,  who  was  Provost  of  Peebles, 
died  reasonably  wealthy ;  so  did  Meg  Dods's  parent. 
Miss  Ritchie  abode  in  single-blessedness  ;  Meg  "  had 
the  honour  of  refusing  three  topping  farmers,  two 
bonnet-lairds,  and  a  horse-couper  who  successively 
made  proposals  to  her." 

The  Cleikum  Inn  was  formerly  a  mansion  of  the 
Mowbray  family.  The  Cross  Keys,  in  the  Peebles 
Northgate,  was  the  town-house  of  the  Williamsons 
of  Cardrona.  The  court,  the  old-fashioned  archway, 
and  the  garden  are  still  existent,  but  other  parts  of 
the  description  of  Meg's  hostelry  scarcely  tally  with 
the  modern  building,  or  even  as  it  was  a  century  ago. 
It  seems  likely,  however,  that  the  essential  features 
were  derived  from  the  quondam  Cardrona  domicile. 

As  for  Meg's  characteristics,  these  agree  tolerably 
well  (with  exaggerations)  with  the  traits  ascribed  to 
Marion  Ritchie.  Scott's  portrait  is,  of  course,  a 
caricature.  "  She  had  hair  of  a  brindled  colour,  be- 
twixt black  and  grey,  which  was  apt  to  escape  in  elf- 
locks  from  under  her  mutch  when  she  was  thrown 
into  violent  agitation  ;  long  skinny  hands,  termin- 
ated by  stout  talons ;  grey  eyes,  thin  lips,  a  robust 
person,  a  broad  though  flat  chest,  capital  wind,  and 
a  voice  that  could  match  a  choir  of  fish- women."  The 
real  trouble  lay  in  Meg's  mannerisms,  her  treatment 
of  chance  customers,  and  the  woman's  habitual  ill- 
nature — qualities  in  which  she  was  akin  to  her  Tweed- 

318 


ST.  RONAN'S  WELL  "MEGjDODS" 

side  copy.  The  following  account  of  Miss  Ritchie, 
from  the  pen  of  one  who  knew  her  well,  seems  to 
exhaust  all  that  can  be  said  on  the  subject :  "  The 
characteristic  features  of  Miss  Ritchie  were  so  nearly 
the  same  as  those  described  in  Meg  Dods,  that  it  is 
not  easy,  without  a  repetition  of  these,  to  say  anything 
respecting  her.  She  was  more  of  a  gentlewoman 
than  Meg,  being  well  connected,  considering  her  posi- 
tion in  life.  Her  abilities,  too,  were  of  no  mean  order. 
The  great  leading  point  of  resemblance  between 
the  fiction  and  the  reality  was  that  tone  of  independ- 
ence, approaching  to  rudeness,  which  is  ascribed  to  Meg 
even  in  her  days  of  greatest  adversity.  Miss  Ritchie, 
though  invariably  civil  when  treated  with  due  re- 
spect, had  an  outspoken  way  with  her,  and  could  never 
conceal  her  real  sentiments  when  either  provoked,  or, 
as  she  thought,  injured.  She  rather  appeared  as  the 
obliging  than  as  the  obliged  party  in  her  transactions; 
and  if  any  indulgence  or  comfort  was  expected  in  her 
house,  it  was  necessary,  in  the  first  place,  to  use  all 
soothing  terms  of  speech.  No  doubt  muchofthisarose 
from  natural  character;  yet  it  was  fostered  in  a  great 
measure  by  the  circumstances  in  which  shewas  placed. 
Previous  to  1808,  when  a  good  hotel  of  the  modern 
fashion  (the  Tontine — Meg's  "Tamteen")  was  erected 
in  Peebles  by  the  gentlemen  of  the  county,  she  reigned 
without  a  rival ;  and  as  there  was  no  tolerable  house 
within  perhaps  twenty  miles  of  her  in  all  directions,  it 
is  easy  to  conceive  that  travellers  must  have  felt  some 
little  deference  to  their  hostess  to  be  quite  indispens- 
319 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

able.  When  the  hotel  was  set  up,  she  growled  like  a 
lioness  deprived  of  her  whelps.  Yet  she  would  not 
give  in.  She  was  too  old  to  learn  new  tricks  of  civil- 
ity, and  too  independent  in  her  circumstances  to  re- 
quire to  put  them  in  practice.  Accordingly,  when  any 
one  came  to  her  house,  who,  she  learned,  was  in  the 
habit  of  goingto  the  hotel,  she  never  hesitated  to  break 
out  upon  him  in  a  tone  of  indignation  and  sarcasm, 
which  was  not  always  very  easily  borne.  '  Troop  aff 
wi'  ye  to  another  public'  Sometimes  she  would  abso- 
lutely refuse,  at  first,  to  send  to  such  individuals  the 
liquors  or  refreshments  which  were  wanted.  The  set- 
ting up  of  the  hotel  was,  to  Miss  Ritchie,  what  the 
erection  of  the  new  Well  and  its  inn  was  to  the  acrid 
mistress  of  The  Cleikum." 

"  One  instance  of  the  manner  of  mine  hostess  of  the 
Northgate  may  be  narrated.  In  the  year  1810,  a  de- 
tachment of  French  officers  came  to  reside  at  Peebles, 
as  prisoners  on  parole  ;  and  a  party  of  about  twenty 
called,  immediately  on  their  arrival,  to  take  dinner 
at  Miss  Ritchie's.  They  were  speedily  set  down  to  a 
large  preparation  of  ordinary  barley-broth,  which,  on 
tasting,  they  declared  to  be  '  bon,  bon  !  '  Miss  Ritchie, 
overhearing  this  expression,  immediately  burst  out 
with — '  Banes  !  d'ye  say  there's  banes  in  my  kail  ? 
Get  out  o'  my  house,  ye  hallan-shaker-lookin'  scoun- 
drels !  Gae  wa  wi'  ye  back  to  Penicuik,  and  see  what 
ye'll  get  there.  They're  owre  gude  for  you,  or  ony 
like  you.  Banes  in  my  kail  !  My  certy  !  '  And  it  was 

not  without  some  difficulty  that  the  hostess  and  her 

320 


^^^w 


ST.  RONAN'S  WELL       :       "  MEG  DODS  " 

guests  were  brought  to  a  right  understanding,  and  the 
unfortunate  gentlemen  permitted  to  proceed  with 
their  dinner."  * 

Marion's  brusquerie  withal,  there  was  the  beating 
of  a  kind  heart  within.  Like  Meg  Dods,  her  severe, 
her  almost  despotic  government  was  exercised,  upon 
the  whole,  for  the  good  of  the  subject.  In  her  house 
she  tolerated  no  excess.  Her  clients  were  dismissed  at 
her  discretion.  If  any  young  man  was  tempted  to 
linger  over  his  cups,  there  was  the  invariable  refusal 
to  supply  another  drop,  the  firm  and  honest  rebuke  : 
"  You  have  had  plenty  now.  Gae  awa  hame  to  your 
mother."  f 

*  Chambers's  Journal,  June  1833. 

f  A  curious  difficulty  emerges  with  regard  to  Meg's  prototype. 
Provost  Ritchie  had  two  daughters,  Marion  and  Williamina,  both 
of  whom  succeeded  him  in  the  business  of  Innkeeper.  (In  the 
novel,  Meg  Dods  is  an  only  daughter.)  Marion,  according  to  the 
popular  tradition,  was  Meg's  Original.  There  is,  however,  no  re- 
ference to  her  in  the  Gutterbluid  Minute  Books,  which  in  the  most 
careful  manner  record  every  event  of  the  slightest  interest  that 
took  place  in  the  Burgh.  The  omission  is  striking — unless,  indeed, 
Marion  died  previous  to  31st  January  1823,  when  the  Club 
was  instituted.  That  might  well  be.  It  is  strange  to  think  that 
her  name  does  not  appear  on  the  family  tombstone  in  Peebles 
Churchyard.  Miss  Willie  died  on  9th  July  iS-iiattheageof  seventy- 
seven.  In  the  Gutterbluid  Book  she  is  said  to  have  been  "  long  Inn- 
keeper at  the  Cross  Keys,"  and  her  name  is  inscribed  on  the  tomb- 
stone. In  Glimpses  of  Peebles,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Alexander  Williamson 
(a  native)  states  that  Miss  Willie  Ritchie  resided  in  the  High  Street, 
and  that  Miss  Ritchie  (the  elder)  died  in  July  1841.  This  must  be 
a  mistake.  The  likelihood  is  that  she  died  some  time  between 
1820  and  1823.  The  Rev.  James  Campbell,  who  was  minister  of 
Traquair  in  the  first-mentioned  year,  remembered  her  and  used 
to  relate  some  of  her  sayings.  The  Presbytery  always  dined  at 
her  house.  "  It  would  have  broken  her  heart  if  they  had  coun- 
tenanced the  '  hotle.'  "  One  afternoon  as  the  members  were  at 
321  X 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

dinner,  Marion  Ritchie  passed  away.  Almost  her  last  words  were, 
"Are  the  ministers  a'  right?"  When  they  learned  what  had 
occurred,  they  immediately  broke  up  the  Club  for  the  day. 
Marion's  Bible,  punch-bowl,  etc.,  are  still  preserved  in  Peebles. 
The  bowl  is  said  to  have  been  cracked  by  Scott,  "who,  rather 
than  encounter  Meg's  wrath,  stole  unseen  from  the  house  with 
it  in  his  handkerchief,  and  ordering  his  groom  to  follow  him 
with  the  carriage,  walked  out  on  the  road  till  the  groom  came 
up  ;  then  driving  with  all  haste  to  Edinburgh,  had  it  clasped, 
and  returned  to  Peebles  with  it  next  morning,  thinking  his 
anxiety  for  the  bowl  would  be  some  palliation  of  his  offence. 
But  he  was  met  by  Miss  Ritchie  with  a  perfect  torrent  of  abuse 
for  '  leaving  her  decent  house  in  sic  a  clandesteen  manner,  at 
sic  a  late  hour,  and  a'  aboot  a  bit  crockerie-ware  that  wasna 
worth  fashin'  ane's  thoomb  aboot.'  " 

Since  this  Note  was  written  it  has  been  found  from  a  research 
in  the  General  Register  House  that  Marion  Ritchie  died  8th 
February  1822. 


CHAPTER  TWENTY 

ST.  RONAN'S  WELL 
"JOSIAH  CARGILL" 


"  His  preaching  much,  but  more  his  practice  wrought ; 
A  living  sermon  of  the  truths  he  taught." 

Dryden. 


CHAPTER  TWENTY  ST. 

RONAN'SWELL  "JOSIAH  CARGILL" 

THE  REVEREND  JOSIAH  CARGILL,  THE  SAD, 

shy,  gifted,  amiable,  dreary  recluse,  is  another  of  the 
admirable  Scottish  figures  who  fill  up  the  glowing  can- 
vas of  5^.  Ronans  Well.  Mr.  Cargill  was  the  son  of  a 
small  farmer  in  the  South  of  Scotland.  At  much  sac- 
rifice he  had  been  trained  for  the  ministry.  When  a 
private  tutor,  he  fell  in  love  with  his  clever  and  come- 
ly ward,  the  Honourable  Miss  Augusta  Bidmore,  but 
dared  not  reveal  himself.  "  To  sigh  and  suffer  in 
secret ;  to  form  resolutions  of  separating  himself  from 
a  situation  so  fraught  with  danger,  and  to  postpone 
from  day  to  day  the  accomplishment  of  a  resolution 
so  prudent,  was  all  to  which  the  tutor  found  himself 
equal."  But  in  Mr.  Cargill's  absence  as  travelling 
tutor  to  her  brother — the  Honourable  Augustus — Miss 
Augusta  changed  her  maidenly  for  that  of  a  wifely  con- 
ditions contingency  wholly  unanticipatedbythebash- 
ful  wooer.  Whereupon  the  distressed  Josiah,  broken 
in  body  and  in  mind,  beat  a  sorrowful  retreat  home- 
ward. By  the  grace  of  my  Lord  Bidmore  he  was  offered 
the  living  of  St.  Ronan's,  where  he  speedily  buried 
himself  in  his  studies,  straining  forward  in  pursuit 
of  a  nobler  and  coyer  Mistress  than  the  Honourable 
Augusta — Knowledge  herself.  Immersed  in  his  own 
tastes  and  interests  (but  by  no  means  neglectful  of  his 
parochial  work),  he  very  soon  became  the  prey  of  per- 
sonal indifference;  ludicrous  habits  clung  to  him ;  and 
to  an  over-fastidious  world  the  state  of  both  manse 
325 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

and  minister  lent  occasion  for  astonishment  and  ridi- 
cule :  "  He  not  only  indulged  in  neglect  of  dress  and 
appearance,  and  all  those  ungainly  tricks  which  men 
are  apt  to  acquire  by  living  very  much  alone,  but  be- 
sides, and  especially,  he  became  probably  the  most 
abstracted  and  absent  man  of  a  profession  peculiarly 
liable  to  cherish  such  habits.  No  man  fell  so  regularly 
into  the  painful  dilemma  of  mistaking,  or,  in  Scottish 
phrase, '  miskenning,'  the  person  he  spoke  to,  or  more 
frequently  inquired  of  an  old  maid  for  her  husband, 
of  a  childless  wife  about  her  young  people,  of  the  dis- 
tressed widower  for  the  spouse  at  whose  funeral  he 
himself  had  assisted  but  a  fortnight  before  ;  and  none 
was  ever  more  familiar  with  strangers  whom  he  had 
never  seen,  or  seemed  more  estranged  from  those  who 
had  a  title  to  think  themselves  well  known  to  him. 
The  worthy  man  perpetually  confounded  sex,  age,  and 
calling  ;  and  when  a  blind  beggar  extended  his  hand 
for  charity,  he  has  been  known  to  return  the  civility  by 
taking  off  his  hat,  making  a  low  bow,  and  hoping  his 
worship  was  well." 

Touchwood  scented  an  original  in  Meg  Dods's  ac- 
count of  her  minister,  and  being  weary  of  his  own 
society,  resolved  to  interview  that  same  abstracted 
personage.  Arrived  at  the  manse,  all  was  silent,  damp, 
dilapidated.    His  knock  unanswered,  he  strode  in. 

"  Amid  a  heap  of  books  and  other  literary  lumber 
which  had  accumulated  around  him,  sat,  in  his  well- 
worn  leathern  elbow-chair,  the  learned  minister  of 

St.  Ronan's — a  thin,  spare  man,  beyond  the  middle 

326 


ST.  RONAN'S  WELL    "  JOSIAH  CARGILL  " 

age,  of  a  dark  complexion,  but  with  eyes  which,  though 
now  obscured  and  vacant,  had  been  once  bright,  soft 
and  expressive,  and  whose  featuresseemedinteresting, 
the  rat  her  that,  not  withstanding  the  carelessness  of  his 
dress,  he  was  in  the  habit  of  performing  his  ablutions 
with  Eastern  precision;  for  he  had  forgot  neatness,  but 
not  cleanliness.  His  hair  might  have  appeared  much 
more  disorderly  had  it  not  been  thinned  by  time,  and 
disposed  chiefly  around  the  sides  of  his  countenance 
and  the  back  part  of  his  head ;  black  stockings,  un- 
gartered,  marked  his  professional  dress,  and  his  feet 
were  thrust  into  the  old  slipshod  shoes  which  served 
him  instead  of  slippers.  The  rest  of  his  garments,  as 
far  as  visible,  consisted  in  a  plaid  nightgown  wrapt  in 
long  folds  round  his  stooping  and  emaciated  length  of 
body,  and  reaching  down  to  the  slippers  aforesaid.  He 
was  so  intently  engaged  in  studying  the  book  before 
him,  a  folio  of  no  ordinary  bulk,  that  he  totally  disre- 
garded the  noise  which  Mr.  Touchwood  made  in  enter- 
ing theroom,as  well  as  the  coughs  and  hems  with  which 
he  thought  it  proper  to  announce  his  presence. 

' '  No  notice  being  taken  of  these  inarticulate  signals, 
Mr.  Touchwood,  however  great  an  enemy  he  was  to 
ceremony,  saw  the  necessity  of  introducing  his  busi- 
ness as  an  apology  for  his  intrusion. 

"  '  Hem  !  sir — ha,  hem  !  You  see  before  you  a  per- 
son in  some  distress  for  want  of  society,  who  has  taken 
the  liberty  to  call  on  you  as  a  good  pastor,  who  may 
be,  in  Christian  charity,  willing  to  afford  him  a  little 
of  your  company,  since  he  is  tired  of  his  own.' 
327 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

Of  this  speech  Mr.  Cargill  only  understood  the  words 
'distress  '  and  'charity' — sounds  with  which  he  was 
well  acquainted,  and  which  never  failed  to  produce 
some  effect  on  him.  He  looked  at  his  visitor  with 
lack-lustre  eye,  and,  without  correcting  the  first  opin- 
ion which  he  had  formed,  although  the  stranger's 
plump  and  sturdy  frame,  as  well  as  his  nicely-brushed 
coat,  glancing  cane,  and,  above  all,  his  upright  and 
self-satisfied  manner,  resembled  in  no  respect  the  dress, 
form,  or  bearing  of  a  mendicant,  he  quietly  thrust  a 
shilling  into  his  hand,  and  relapsed  into  the  studious 
contemplation  which  the  entrance  of  Touchwood  had 
interrupted. 

"  'Upon  my  word,  my  good  sir,'  said  his  visitor, 
surprised  at  a  degree  of  absence  of  mind  which  he 
could  hardly  have  conceived  possible,  '  you  have  en- 
tirely mistaken  my  object.' 

"  '  I  am  sorry  my  mite  is  insufficient,  my  friend/ 
said  the  clergyman,  without  again  raising  his  eyes, '  it 
is  all  I  have  at  present  to  bestow.' 

"  'If  you  will  have  the  kindness  to  look  up  for  a  mo- 
ment, my  good  sir,'  said  the  traveller, '  you  may  pos- 
sibly perceive  that  you  labour  under  a  considerable 
mistake.' 

"  Mr.  Cargill  raised  his  head,  recalled  his  attention, 
and,  seeing  that  he  had  a  well-dressed,  respectable- 
looking  person  before  him,  he  exclaimed  in  much 
confusion,  '  Ha  !*— yes — on  my  word,  I  was  so  im- 
mersed in  my  book — I  believe — I  think  I  have  the 

pleasure  to  see  my  worthy  friend,  Mr.  Lavender  ? '" 

328 


ST.  RONAN'S  WELL  «  JOSIAH  CARGILL" 

The  upshot  was  that  the  "Nabob"  prevailed  on 
him  to  accept  an  invitation  for  dinner.  Each  found 
something  to  like  in  the  other.  Mr.  Touchwood  bub- 
bled over  with  curious  and  inflated  harangues  of  his 
adventures  in  the  farthermost  parts  of  the  earth,  and 
the  minister's  simplicity  and  forgetfulness  aroused  all 
his  finer  feelings.  He  repaired  the  tumble-down 
manse,  effected  a  change  in  the  garden,  and  civilised 
the  tow-headed  maid-of-all-work,  for  Touchwood  was 
never  so  happy  as  when  he  was  setting  other  people's 
affairs  to  rights  ! 

According  to  Lockhart,  the  absent-minded  divine 
of  the  Aultoon  of  St.  Ronan's  was  drawn  from  Dr. 
Alexander  Duncan,  the  minister  of  Scott's  Smailholm 
boyhood.  Professor  Lawson  of  Selkirk  has  been  spo- 
ken of  as  an  Original,  and  there  are  points  of  resem- 
blance between  the  scholarly  Seceder  and  the  erudite 
Josiah.  Lawson,  like  Cargill,"  was  characterised  by  all 
who  knew  him  as  a  mild,  gentle,  and  studious  lover  of 
learning,  who,  in  the  quiet  prosecution  of  his  own  sole 
object,  the  acquisition  of  knowledge,  and  especially  of 
that  connected  with  his  profession,  had  the  utmost 
indulgence  for  all  whose  pursuits  were  different  from 
his  own.  His  sole  relaxations  were  those  of  a  retiring, 
mild,  and  pensive  temper,  and  were  limited  to  a  ramble, 
almost  always  solitary,  among  the  woods  and  hills.  " 
Pray,  Mrs.  Dods,  what  sort  of  a  man  is  your 
minister?  [it  is  Touchwood  who  is  speaking].  Is  he 
a  sensible  man  ? ' 

'"No  muckle  o'  that,  sir,'  answered  Dame  Dods, 
329 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

'  for  if  he  was  drinking  this  very  tea  that  ye  gat  down 
frae  London  wi'  the  mail,  he  would  mistake  it  for 
common  Bohea.  I  have  gi'en  the  minister  a  dram 
from  my  ain  best  bottle  of  real  cognac  brandy,  and 
may  I  never  stir  frae  the  bit  if  he  didna  commend 
my  whisky  when  he  set  down  the  glass  !  There  is  no 
ane  o'  them  in  the  Presbytery  but  himsell — ay,  or  in 
the  Synod  either — but  wad  hae  kenn'd  whisky  frae 
brandy.' 

"  '  But  what  sort  of  man  is  he  ?  Has  he  learning  ? ' 
said  Touchwood. 

'"Learning?  Eneugh  o'  that,'  answered  Meg; 
'  just  dung  donnart  wi'  learning  ;  lets  a'  things  a- 
boot  the  manse  gang  whilk  gate  they  will,  sae  they 
dinna  plague  him  upon  the  score.  If  I  had  the  twa 
tawpies  that  sorn  upon  the  honest  man  ae  week  under 
my  drilling,  I  think  I  wad  show  them  how  to  sort  a 
lodging !  "* 

Mention  maybe  made  of  Alexander  Affleck,  who  was 
minister  of  Lyne  and  Megget  from  1814  to  1845.  Mr. 
Affleck,  while  occupying  a  very  humble  sphere,  was 
one  of  the  pundits  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  in  his 
day.  A  bachelor  to  the  end,  he  exhibited  many  of  the 
peculiarities  of  the  eccentric  Cargill,  and  his  name 
has  been  frequently  associated  with  the  character. 

II 

It  is  more  than  likely,  however,  that  Scott  had  in 
view  the  good  divine  of  his  early  happy  days  in  Rox- 
burghshire.  When,  "  ordered  South  "  for  the  sake  of 

330 


ST.  RONAN'S  WELL  "JOSIAH  CARGILL" 

his  somewhat  fragile  life,  the  little  lamiter  from  the 
College  Wynd  came  under  the  spell  of  the  breezes 
and  the  ballads  of  Sandy knowe,  the  minister  had  been 
thirty  years  in  his  parish.    He  was  destined  to  be  its 
spiritual  head  long  after  Scott  had  attained  to  man- 
hood.   He  served  the  cure  for  fifty-eight  years  in  all. 
Still   hale    at    sixty-five — his   age   on   Scott's   first 
acquaintanceship — we  have  in  his  portrait  (repro- 
duced for  the  first  time)  an  excellent  representation 
of  a  Scottish  clergyman  of  the  old  school.    The  face 
furnishes  an  index  to  the  character  of  the  man,  with 
no  clue  or  suggestion  of  whimsicality.   There  is  the 
scholar's  look,  the  rapt  eye  of  one  who  sees  more 
than  mere  time-visions  ;  and  about  the  natural  stern- 
ness of  the  features  there  mingles  the  play  of  a 
deep,  honest  sympathy.    In  the  Smailholm  district 
traditions  of  absent-mindedness  on  the  part  of  Dr. 
Duncan  have  long  since  vanished.    He  was  a  stud- 
ent and  a   recluse,  and  had  gathered  together   a 
considerable   library — a  rare  thing  for  a   minister 
in  those  days.    That  there  was  some  acidity  in  his 
manner  Scott  himself  tells  us.    Spite  of  that,  he  was 
"  a  most  excellent  and  benevolent  man,  a  gentle- 
man in  every  feeling,  and  altogether  different  from 
those  of  his  order  who  cringed  at  the  tables  of  the 
gentry  and  domineered  and  rioted  at  those  of  the 
yeomanry." 

Two  interesting  occasions  chronicled  in  the  Ashes- 
tiel fragment,  afford  us  a  couple  of  graphic  snap-shots. 
In  the  first — a  winsome  picture — the  minister  is  visit  - 
33i 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

ing  old  Robert  Scott  at  Sandyknowe.  The  two  men 
are  engaged  in  earnest  conversation,  when  there  is  ser- 
ious interruption.  It  is  the  boy  Walter  Scott  spouting 
"Hardyknute,"  atrial  of  patiencetotheworthy  pastor. 
"  Methinks  I  now  see  his  tall,  thin,  emaciated  figure, 
his  legs  in  glazed  gambadoes,  and  his  face  of  a  length 
that  would  have  rivalled  the  Knight  of  La  Mancha's, 
and  hear  him  exclaiming,  '  One  might  as  well  speak 
in  the  mouth  of  a  cannon  as  where  that  child  is.' 
The  second,  twenty  years  after,  is  almost  the  closing 
scene  in  the  good  man's  ministry.  Now  it  is  Scott 
— "  that  child  " — who  knocks  at  the  door  of  the 
manse  of  Smailholm.  He  was  in  the  habit  of  paying  a 
yearly  visit  to  his  old  friend.  This  is  to  be  his  last.  "I 
found  him  emaciated  to  the  last  degree,  wrapt  in  a 
tartan  nightgown  and  employed  with  all  the  activity 
of  health  and  youth  in  correcting  a  History  of  the 
Revolution  which  he  intended  should  be  given  to  the 
public  when  he  was  no  more.  He  read  me  several 
passages  with  a  voice  naturally  strong,  and  which 
the  feelings  of  an  author  then  raised  above  the  de- 
pression of  age  and  declining  health.  I  begged  him 
to  spare  this  fatigue,  which  could  not  but  injure  his 
health.  '  I  know,'  he  said,  '  that  I  cannot  survive 
a  fortnight,  and  what  signifies  an  exertion  which  can 
at  worst  only  accelerate  my  death  a  few  days  ?  '  I 
marvelled  at  the  composure  of  this  reply,  for  his  ap- 
pearance sufficiently  vouched  the  truth  of  his  pro- 
phecy.   I  rode  home  musing  what  there  could  be  in 

the  spirit  of  authorship  that  could  inspire  its  votaries 

332 


ST.  RONAN'S  WELL  «  JOSIAH  CARGILL" 

with  the  courage  of  martyrs.    He  died  within  less 
than  the  period  he  assigned." 

Haunting  memories  of  these,  and,  doubtless, similar 
incidents,  survive  in  the  Introduction  to  the  third 
Canto  of  Marmion.  There  Dr.  Duncan  is  further  im- 
mortalised.   He  is 

"  that  venerable  Priest, 
Our  frequent  and  familiar  guest, 
Whose  life  and  manners  well  could  paint 
Alike  the  student  and  the  saint. 
Alas  !  whose  speech  too  oft  I  broke 
With  gambol  rude  and  timeless  joke." 

Ill 

Alexander  Duncan,  son  of  an  Aberdeen  weaver 
and  burgess,  was  born  in  1708.  At  seventeen,  he 
entered  Marischal  College;  was  licensed  by  thePresby- 
tery  of  Earlston,  7th  January  1735 ;  and  ordained 
assistant  and  successor  at  Traquair,  2nd  September 
1738.  Scott  says  he  had  been  chaplain  to  the  second 
Lord  Marchmont,  had  seen  Pope,  and  could  talk 
familiarly  of  many  characters  who  had  survived  the 
Augustan  age  of  Queen  Anne.  In  1743  he  was  trans- 
lated to  Smailholm.  Duncan  did  not  turn  author 
until  thirty  years  afterwards,  when  he  produced  A 
Preservative  against  the  Principles  of  Infidelity  or  The 
Nature  and  Design  of  the  Christian  Religion  and  the 
Evidences  of  its  Truth  and  Divine  Origin.  Stated  in 
a  plain  and  familiar  manner. 

His  other  works  are  as  follows  :  The  Devout  Com- 
municant's Assistant  (1777) ;  The) Evidence  of  the  Re- 
333 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

surrection  of  Jesus  as  recorded  in  the  New  Testament, 
preached  before  the  Society  in  Scotland  for  Propagat- 
ing Christian  Knowledge  (1783)  ;  History  of  the  Re- 
volution of  1688 :  giving  an  Account  of  the  Manner 
in  which  it  was  accomplished  and  its  happy  Effects, 
particularly  to  the  Kingdom  and  Church  of  Scotland 
(1790) ;  and  the  article  on  Smailholm  in  Sinclair's 
Statistical  Account  of  Scotland. 

Dr.  Duncan  (he  was  made  D.D.  in  1773)  wrote  a 
Journal  of  the  Rebellion  of 1745,  which  was  not  pub- 
lished. It  seems  certain  that  this  is  the  work,  the 
manuscript  of  which  he  was  engaged  in  correcting  at 
the  time  of  Scott's  last  visit  to  him,  and  not  his  pre- 
viously published  History  of  the  Revolution,  as  stated 
in  Lockhart's  Life* 

Duncan  died  in  1795.  His  intimate  friend,  Professor 
George  Stewart  of  the  Edinburgh  Chair  of  Humanity, 
composed  a  Latin  epitaph  which  was  intended  to  be 
inscribed  on  a  Memorial  Stone  in  the  Church.  For 
some  reason  that  was  not  done.  (The  matter  might  be 
taken  up  even  yet.)  The  epitaph,  however,  appeared 
in  the  Scots  Magazine  for  June,  1796,  without  any 
memoir  or  notice  of  the  Smailholm  minister  : 

*  The  volume  of  Miscellaneous  Essays,  Naval,  Moral,  Political, 
and  Divine,  Edin.  1799,  which  is  attributed  to  Dr.  Duncan  in  the 
Bibliotheca  Britannica,  and  elsewhere,  was  written  by  the  Rev. 
Alex.  Duncan,  D.D.,  Vicar  of  Bolam  (See  British  Museum  Cata- 
logue), and  the  "  Sermon  on  the  Design  and  Advantages  of  the 
Christian  Dispensation  "  (from  2  Peter  i.  18)  published  in  Sermons 
on  Miscellaneous  Subjects  by  Ministers  of  the  General  Association 
Synod  (vol.  ii.,  i860),  which  is  put  under  his  name  in  the  British 
Museum  Catalogue,  was  written  by  the  Rev.  Alex.  Duncan,  D.D., 
Secession  Minister  at  Midcalder. 

334 


:  pub- 


to  be 

For 


ST.  RONAN'S  WELL  «  JOSIAH  CARGILL" 

M.  S. 
VIRI  REVERENDI 

ALEXANDER  DUNCAN,  S.S.T.T. 

QUI  NON  MAGIS  MORIBUS  INCORRUPTIS 

QUAM  INGENII  DOTIBUS  CONSPICUUS 

SACRA  FIDELITER  ET  FELICITER  EXERCUIT 

IN  HAC  ECCLESIA  PER  ANNOS  QUINQUAGINTA  DUOS 

IN  SOLATUM  AUDITORUM 

QUOS  MILITIA  CHRISTIANO  INITIATOS 

ASSIDUE  ET  EXEMPLO  IMITATIONE  DIGNO 

CONFIRMAVERAT  I 

VIRTUS  DIREXIT  INTEGRITAS  SIGNAVIT 

MENS  SIBI  CONSCIA  RECTI 

OMNES  AETATIS  EJUS  GRADUS 

COMITATA  EST 

OBIIT  MULTUM  DESIDERATUS  A.D.   1 795 

ANNO  AETATIS  OCTOGESIMO  SEPTIMO 

PRID.  KALEND.  OCTOB.   ANNO  DOMINI  I795. 

Dr.  Duncan's  wife  was  the  fourth  child  of  William 
Home  of  Greenlaw  Castle,  afterwards  of  Sharpitlaw, 
factor  to  Baillie  of  Mellerstain.  Her  mother  was  the 
daughter  of  Sir  Alexander  Purves  of  that  Ilk.  Her 
brother,  Robert,  was  the  father  of  Sir  Everard  Home, 
the  surgeon,  and  his  daughter  Anne  (authoress  of  the 
song  "  My  Mother  bids  me  bind  my  hair  ")  became 
the  wife  of  John  Hunter  the  anatomist.  Another 
daughter,  Mary,  married  Robert  Mylne,  architect  of 
Blackfriars  Bridge,  London,  and  the  Edinburgh  North 
Bridge.  Mrs.  Duncan  died  young.  Her  husband,  who 
had  been  devoted  to  and  very  much  dependent  on 
her,  was  disconsolate  at  his  loss.  He  was  a  widower 
for  nearly  fifty  years.  Among  his  papers  were  found 
several  versions  of  an  effusive  but  heart-wrung 
eulogy  : 
335 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

Here  rests  in  hope  of  the  Resurrection  of  the  Just, 
Helen  Home,  Spouse  to  Mr.  A.  D.,  Minister  of  Smalholm  ; 
A  Woman  Exemplary  in  every  office  and  Relation  of  Life, 
A  Daughter  full  of  Duty  and  Affection, 
A  Sister  disinterested,  above  rivalship, 
A  Wife  blest  with  the  Tenderest  love  and  fidelity, 
And  a  Mother  who  felt  the  wants  of  her  Infant  Children  ore 
they  could  express  them. 

Her  heart  was  full  of  goodness  and  Generosity  ; 

Her  uncommon  Understanding,  clear  and  extensive  ; 

Religion  in  her  account  was  not  words  but  actions  ; 

And  thereby  She  was  So  much  above  the  fashion  (of)    this 

world 
That  she  never  was  once  charged  with  having  fail'd  in  Duty  or 

Affection,  to  Friend  or  Relation. 

She  knew  indeed  the  partialitys  of  friendship, 
But  thought  ym  the  most  forgivable  failings  of  our  Nature  ; 
Her  Friends  Prosperity  She  beheld  without  envy, 
And  was  unwearied  to  Serve  them,  from  ye  alone  Motive  of  See- 
ing what  she  designed  for  them,  by  her  Means,  prove  suc- 
cessful. 
While  she  had  as  much  difficulty  to  prevail  on  her  Self 
To  accept  an  obligation,  as  the  most  part  have  to  prevail  on  one 

to  grant  it. 
She  could  truely  have  compassion  on  her  Enimys, 
Counscious  they  were  never  made  Such  by  her  conduct. 
And  never  Saw  a  real  object  of  Distress 
Without  divising  to  her  Ability  Some  means  of  relief. 
So  Sensible  and  just  was  her  heart,  allways,  that  it  was  in  power 

of  her 
Friends  to  hurt  her  more  than  could  her  Enimys. 

Her  Husband,  during  the  four  (alas)  short  years  She  lived  in  ye 

Relation, 
And  Double  that  time  She  had  been  his  friend, 
Never  had  discovered  in  her  a  failing ; 
But  upon  every  occasion  felt,  that  if  she  could  have  devised 
Any  method  to  have  made  him  happ}',  or  more  usefull  in  his 

office, 
The  earnest  ambition  of  her  heart  would  have  been  eagerly  to 

promote  it. 

336 


ST.  RONAN'S  WELL  "JOSIAH  CARGILL" 

She  was  to  him  the  Mother  of  four  Children, 
The  Eldest  of  whom  at  her  Death  was  not  three  years  old. 
And  so  helpless  were  those  poor  Orphans, 
Deprived  of  her  tender  and  watchful  1  care, 
That  in  two  months  after,  the  Youngest  George  was  laid  in  ye 
grave  by  her  Side. 

The  irrepairablc  loss  of  her,  gave  Such  a  shock  to  her  Husband, 
That  he  hath  allmost  ever  Since  been  at  the  gates  of  Death. 
So  much  goodness  could  not  long  be  alleyed  to  clay. 
Souls  So  Sensible  Soon  wear  this  frail  tabernacle. 
She  therefore  left  this  mortal  estate  to  the  unspeakable  loss  of 
her  family 

And  the  undessembled  Sorrow  of  all  her  Friends 

To  take  possession  of  that  glorious  reward 

Of  all  those  who  live  agreeably  to  the  hope  of  the  Gospel. 

And  the  frail  Lodging  of  that  worthy  Soul 

Was  laid  here  ioth  Janry  1748  and  37th  Year  of  her  Age. 

Smalholm,*  gth  May  1750. 

Of  Dr.  Duncan's  family,  Alexander  became  minis- 
ter of  Gordon.  On  21st  July,  returning  from  Com- 
munion at  Channelkirk,  he  was  thrown  from  his 
horse,  and  was  found  dead  on  the  road  about  six  miles 
from  his  manse.  William  went  into  the  service  of 
the  East  India  Company  under  Warren  Hastings 
and  Lord  Cornwallis  ;  became  Colonel ;  returned  to 
Scotland  "  with  the  highest  character  for  military  and 
civil  merit "  ;  married  his  cousin  Caroline  Mylne ;  and 
died  at  London  in  1830.  Agnes  was  the  wife  of  Tho- 
mas Cleghorn,  wine  merchant  in  Edinburgh,  after- 
wards Inspector-General  of  Imports  and  Exports, 
Dean  of  Guild,  and  a  Magistrate  of  the  City.  He 
died  in  1800.  Their  son  Thomas  succeeded  his  grand- 
father as  minister  of  Smailholm.    George,  Dr.  Dun- 

*  The  old  form  of  the  name. 
337  v 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

can's  fourth  child,  was  an  infant  when  his  mother 
was  taken,  and  died  two  months  after  her. 

In  Dr.  Duncan's  library  there  was  found  a  little 
Latin  work  De  Cadaveribus  Damnatorum  (Concerning 
the  Disposal  of  the  dead  bodies  of  Criminals) .  This  was 
Scott's  thesis  on  being  called  to  the  Bar.*  It  is  now 
excessively  rare,  not  more  than  about  four  copies 
having  survived.  The  Dedication  was  given  to  his 
friend  and  neighbour  in  George  Square — Macqueen  of 
Braxfield,  that  terror  of  the  law,  the  original  Weir  of 
Hermiston. 

*  Disputatio  Juridica,  ad  Tit.  xxiv.  Lib.  xlviii.  Pand.,  de  Cad- 
averibus Damnatorum,  quam,  etc.,  .  .  .  Pro  Advocati  Munere 
consequendo,  Publicae  Disquisitioni  subjecit  Gaulterus  Scott, 
Auct.  et  Resp.  Ad  diem  10.  Julii,  hor.  loc.  sol.  Edinburgi,  apud 
Balfour  et  Smcllie,  Facultatis  Juridicae  Typographos,  1792.    410. 


CHAPTER  TWENTY-ONE 
REDGAUNTLET 


"Who  will  not  mercie  unto  others  show. 
How  can  he  mercie  ever  hope  to  have  ?  " 

Spenser. 


CHAPTER  TWENTY-ONE 

REDGAUNTLET 

NO  SOONER  WAS  ST.  RO NAN'S  WELL  OFF 
the  anvil  than  Scott  announced  Rcclgauntlet.  Herries 
was  its  original  title,  and  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
novel  was  at  press  before  Constable  was  able  to  per- 
suade Scott  to  adopt  the  more  euphonious  and  more 
striking  appellation.  Published  injune  1824,  there  was 
no  rapturous  welcome  for  the  new  romance.  It  was 
coldly  received.  A  glance  at  contemporary  annals  re- 
veals the  disappointment  which  was  felt  in  Scotland, 
and  the  almost  childish  spirit  manifested  by  critics 
south  of  the  Border, who,  among  other  things,  affected 
to  complain  of  having  to  review  a  novel  by  the  Author 
of  Waverley  about  once  a  quarter.  Scott  cared  little 
for  criticism,  friendly  or  unfriendly.  All  the  same, 
Rcclgauntlet  was  the  only  novel  of  that  year.  But 
what  a  novel !  Out  of  its  seemingly  still-born  con- 
dition the  story  awakened  to  life  and  vitality  and 
interest  and  affection,  to  take  its  place  in  the  very 
forefront  of  the  Waverleys,  and  reaching — there  are 
those  who  think  so — possibly  the  highest  place. 
Lockhart's  forecast  has  been  richly  fulfilled.  In  the 
variety  and  excellence  of  its  characters,  above  all,  in 
its  tender  and  winsome  revelation  of  the  author's 
temperament  and  earlier  life,  Rcclgauntlet  is  specially 
dear  to  all  who  value  Scott  either  as  man  or  writer. 

Historically,  the  novel  harks  back  to  Jacobitism 
and  to  "  Chairlie."  The  same  "  Bonnie  Prince  "  who 
stole  the  Highland  hearts — yet  how  different !  From 
34i 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

his  flight  at  Loch-nan-uamh,  through  all  the  years 
he  had  been  haunted  by  the  memory  of  his  misfor- 
tunes and  shattered  hopes.  And,  alas,  those  "sordid 
enjoyments,"  of  which  Scott  speaks,  had  played  ha- 
voc with  his  beauty  and  his  gallantry !  He  was  a 
broken  and  a  prematurely-aged  man — the  transfig- 
uration of  Waverley  clean  vanished,  the  old  fire  burned 
to  its  ashes.  Some  there  were  who  imagined  that 
Jacobitism  had  still  a  chance.  It  was  a  vain  hope. 
Charles  was  once  capable  of  great  enterprises — but 
not  now.  He  was  the  wreck  of  his  former  self,  and  his 
liaison  with  ClementinaWalkinshaw(whom  he  neither 
loved  nor  esteemed)  was  the  last  straw  to  break  the 
devotion  and  sympathy  of  the  few  who  were  willing 
to  follow.  In  Redgauntlet,  Scott's  pen  writes  almost 
the  final  page  of  the  forlorn  tale.  Nor  is  there  in  the 
whole  of  Scott  a  scene  more  touching  than  that  in 
which  the  last  heir  of  the  Stuarts — the  most  fascinat- 
ing of  a  fatal  line — walks  towards  the  beach  leaning  on 
Redgauntlet's  arm,  "  for  the  ground  was  rough,  and 
he  no  longer  possessed  the  elasticity  of  limb  and  of 
spirit  which  had,  twenty  years  before,  carried  him 
over  many  a  Highland  hill  as  light  as  one  of  their 
native  deer." 

The  novel  is  reminiscent  of  Scott's  early  years  and 
experiences.  It  is  this  element  of  autobiography 
which  is  the  distinguishing  charm  of  the  romance.  The 
author's  youth,  his  first  and  only  love,  that  exquisite 
picture  of  his  stiff,  "pernickety"  father  in  Saunders 

Fairford;  of  his  bosom  friend,  Will  Clerk,  in  Darsie 

342 


MBBBMHBfe,- 


■  years 
misfoT- 

fed  ha- 

insfig. 
Joined 


I 


r-but 

willing 
almost 

'in  the 

scinat- 

jdnim 


r  The 


i 


REDGAUNTLET 

Latimer;  and  of  himself,  as  Alan, — are  possibly  (of 
their  kind)  the  tendcrest  and  most  heart-stirring  word- 
paintings  in  the  whole  of  the  Waverleys. 

So  with  the  Geddeses,  Joshua  and  Rachel,  the 
Quakers  of  Mount  Sharon  (modelled  from  the  Waldies 
of  Hendersyde).  Rachel  Geddes  is  Ruskin's  type  of 
perfect  womanhood, — as  fair  a  rose  as  ever  reddened 
to  the  sun  in  her  delicious  old-world  garden  by  the  Sol- 
way.*  Of  dramatis  persona  less  worthy  but  no  less 
striking,  Nanty  Ewart  (painted  from  Paul  Jones  per- 
haps), that  wreck  of  a  noble  life,  is  a  more  convincing 
pirate  than  Cleveland.  Cristal  Nixon  (sketched  from 
Tom  Purdie,  curiously,  but  only  as  to  externals)  is  a 
villain  and  traitor  of  the  first  water — his  own  victim's 
victim  in  the  end.  As  for  poor  Peter  Peebles,  most 
persistent,  most  unfortunate  of  litigants,  who  but 
Scott  or  Dickens  could  have  drawn  him,  making  us 
pity  him  at  first,  despise  him  afterwards,  and  be  in- 
terested in  him  all  the  time  ? 

'  Wandering  Willie's  Tale  "  f  is,  of  course,  the  gem 
of  Redgauntlet.   This  was  admitted  by  even  the  most 

*  Ann  Ormiston,  daughter  of  Jonathan  Ormiston  of  Newcastle, 
and  wife  of  George  Waldie  of  Hendersyde,  was  the  real  Rachel. 
She  was  of  a  well-known  North  of  England  family  of  Quakers. 
Scott,  in  his  note  to  the  novel,  has  confounded  young  Mrs.  Waldie 
(the  Quakeress)  with  her  mother-in-law,  old  Mrs.  Waldie,  who  lived 
with  the  couple  in  their  Kelso  house  during  Scott's  halcyon  days 
at  Garden  Cottage.  The  picture  reproduced  of  Mrs.  Ann  Waldie 
shows  her  as  she  was  in  middle  life. 

f  Train  finds  a  prototype  of  "  Wandering  Willie  "  in  a  blind 
harper  who,  with  his  wife  and  family,  perished  from  a  landslide  in 
a  gravel-pit,  near  Twynholm  Kirk,  in  1816.  The  spot  is  still  known 
as  the  Harper's  Hole,  and  the  graves  of  the  unfortunate  family  are 
to  be  seen  in  the  churchyard  of  the  parish, 

343 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

captious  London  critics.  Indeed,  it  is  possible  to 
speak  of  it  as  the  most  perfect  piece  of  prose  from 
Scott's  pen.  Men  like  Sir  Leslie  Stephen,  and  John 
Ruskin,  and  Mr.  Lang,  and  Professor  Saintsbury,  who 
can  hardly  be  accused  of  being  rapturists,  have  spoken 
of  this  little  story,  this  conte,  with  the  most  singular 
appreciation. 

"  I  think  the  reason  that  everybody  likes  to  read 
Willie's  tale,"  wrote  Ruskin,  "is  principally  that  it 
is  so  short  they  have  time  to  read  it,  and  so  exciting 
all  through  that  they  attend  completely  to  it.  The 
great  works  of  Scott  require  far  closer  attention  in 
their  intricate  design  and  beautifully  quiet  execu- 
tion ;  and  nowadays  nobody  has  leisure  to  under- 
stand anything — they  like  to  have  something  to 
dream  idly  over — or  rush  through. 

"  In  the  second  place,  it  is  all  of  Scott's  best.  Few 
of  the  novels  are  without  scenes  either  impossible  to 
rational  imagination,  or  a  little  padded  and  insipid. 
Sydney  Smith  thus  condemns  the  whole  of  The  Pirate, 
and  I  do  not  myself  contend  for  the  great  leap  out  of 
the  cave  in  Old  Mortality  ;  the  Bailie's  battle,  or  sus- 
pension, in  Rob  Roy  ;  or  the  caricature  of  Margaret's 
father  in  Nigel.  But  every  word  of  Willie's  tale  is  as 
natural  as  the  best  of  Burns,  with  a  grandeur  in  its 
main  scene  equal  to  Dante,  and  the  waking  by  the 
gravestones  in  the  dew  is  as  probable  as  it  is  sweet 
and  skilful  in  composition."  * 

The  proof-sheets  are  still  extant  and  bear  ample 

*  Letter  to  Lieut. -Col.  Fergusson,  1885. 

344 


REDGAUNTLET 

evidence  in  the  large  number  of  corrections  and  addi- 
tions that  Wandering  Willie's  Tale  was  elaborated 
and  polishedwith  an  exactness  andaprecision utterly 
foreign  to  the  rest  of  Scott's  work.  The  like  may 
be  said  of  The  Highland  Widow,  the  next  best  of  Sir 
Walter's  short  gems.  It  has  been  said  that  Scott 
is  not  a  stylist,  that  he  was  a  great  story-teller  but 
no  artist.  But  what  do  people  mean  by  artistry? 
If  the  term  is  to  be  restricted  to  decoration,  to  a  dis- 
play of  fine  phrases  which  are  not  capable  of  being 
improved  upon,  then  Scott  is  not  always  artistic.  He 
is  often  slovenly  in  style,  involved,  prolix,  deadly  dull, 
and,  as  is  well  known,  the  novels  abound  in  errors 
and  inconsistencies.  Like  Shakespeare,  like  Dry- 
den,  he  rarely  blotted  or  corrected  his  manuscript, 
he  worked  on  a  great  scale;  but,ontheotherhand,his 
style  is  nearly  always  reasonably  good,  and,  when  the 
occasion  demands  it,  rises  to  splendid  and  noble 
heights.  It  is  the  tone  and  the  spirit  which  make  all 
the  difference.  Scott  puts  his  entire  self  into  his 
work  and  so  identifies  himself  with  his  characters 
that,  apart  from  the  mere  formal  setting  in  which  his 
language  occurs,  we  feel  we  are  following  one  who  is  a 
consummatemasterof  the  heart  and  the  ways  of  men. 
The  letters  of  Darsie,  for  example,  are  conceived 
in  the  spirit  of  Darsie,  and  the  story  of  the  blind 
fiddler  is  written  as  no  man  but  Scott  could  have 
done  it.  The  description  of  Steenie's  interview 
with  Redgauntlet  in  his  "own  place"  has  never  been 
eclipsed. 
345 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

II 

The  hero  of  the  story  to  which  Darsie  Latimer 
listened  spellbound  as  he  and  old  Willie  trudged 
along  by  the  shore  of  the  Solway,  it  is  hardly  neces- 
sary to  say,  was  Sir  Robert  Grierson,  Laird  of  Lag, 
persecutor  of  the  Covenanters — a  name  held  in  the 
highest  detestation  all  over  Nithsdale,  his  own  coun- 
try. It  is  hardly  possible  to  say  anything  good  about 
Lag.  And  yet  he  was  not  all  the  hardened  wretch 
which  tradition  has  pictured  him.  There  were  gent- 
ler and  more  emotional  traits  about  the  man,  especi- 
ally in  his  later  years.  But  in  the  heyday  of  his  in- 
famy none  was  so  intolerant,  so  cruel,  so  heartless,  so 
bloodthirsty  as  he.  Lag's  name  was  the  synonym 
for  all  that  was  ignoble  and  inhuman.  The  barbar- 
ities he  practised  were  of  the  most  revolting  type,  and 
such  was  the  impression  produced  upon  the  mind  of 
the  simple  Lowland  peasantry  that  it  was  the  custom, 
less  than  one  hundred  years  ago,  to  commemorate 
Lag's  evil  deeds  by  a  rude  theatrical  performance  in 
which  he  appeared  in  the  guise  of  a  hideous  monster 
inserting  its  snout  into  every  crevice,  pretending  to 
listen  for  any  sound  of  Psalm-singing  or  devotional 
exercise  which  would  betray  the  whereabouts  of  some 
zealous  Covenanter  lurking  under  the  sideboard  and 
other  likely  places.  Generally  an  attempt  would  be 
madeto  seize  some  youthful  member  of  the  family,  but 
as  often  as  not,  in  the  struggle  that  followed,  the  dis- 
guise would  reveal  itself  amid  the  universal  merriment . 

34^ 


dged 

i  the 
bout 

:ent- 

jeci- 

and 

ad  of 

land 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

summary  justice  in  Galloway.  Under  Claverhouse, 
who  had  succeeded  Sir  Andrew  Agnew  of  Lochnaw 
(a  non-Test  man)  as  Sheriff  of  Wigtownshire,  Lag 
found  full  scope  for  his  persecuting  energies.  He 
held  Courts  of  his  own,  enforced  the  obnoxious  Test 
Act  in  every  possible  direction,  and  with  all  his  well- 
known  ferocity  brought  the  terrible  thumb-screws 
into  operation.  With  the  advent  of  1685,  the  fires  of 
persecution  burned  hotter  and  fiercer.  In  that  year 
was  passed  an  Act  of  the  Privy  Council  punishing  re- 
fusal to  take  the  Abjuration  Oath  with  instant  death. 
Now  it  was  that  Lag  and  his  compeers  reachedthe  acme 
of  their  infamy.  Macaulay  cites  the  proceedings  of  a 
single  fortnight  as  illustrative  of  the  crimes  which 
goaded  the  peasantry  of  the  western  Border  into 
madness.  It  is  Lag's  lurid  figure  around  whom  so 
many  of  the  grim  legends  centre.  In  his  house  at 
Rockhall  an  iron  hook  is  still  shown  on  which  he  is 
said  to  have  hanged  his  prisoners,  and  a  hill  is  point- 
ed out  from  which  his  victims  were  rolled  down  in 
barrels  filled  with  knife-blades  and  iron  spikes.  He 
was  the  most  callous,  most  cruel,  most  malignant  of 
Charles's  persecuting  band.  It  is  specially  recorded 
of  him  that  he  invariably  refused  the  request  of  his 
victims  for  a  brief  space  for  prayer  before  they  were 
put  to  death.  The  case  of  the  Lockenkeit  martyrs  is 
significant  of  "  monstrous  Lag's  "  barbarity,  while  his 
treatment  of  John  Bell  of  Whiteside  is  one  of  the  most 
deplorable  things  of  its  kind.  Bellaskedto  beallowed 
a  few  moments  for  prayer.    Lag  answered,  "  What 

348 


REDGAUNTLET 

the  devil  have  you  been  doing  so  many  years  on  those 
hills — have  3/011  not  prayed  enough  ? '  Bell's  body 
was  even  refused  burial.  When  Lord  Kenmure  re- 
monstrated with  Lag  on  the  subject,  Grierson  swore, 
and  said,  "  Take  him  if  you  will,  and  salt  him  in  your 
beef  barrel."  Enraged,  Kenmure  drew  his  sword  and 
would  have  run  Lag  through  had  not  Claverhouse 
intervened.  On  the  accession  of  James  vn. ,  Grierson 
was  created  a  Baronet,  and  among  other  appoint- 
ments which  fell  to  him  about  the  same  time  was  the 
post  of  Lord-Justice  of  Wigtownshire.  It  was  in  this 
capacity  that  Lag  presided  at  the  trial  of  Margaret 
MacLachlan  and  Margaret  Wilson,  the  Wigtown 
martyrs,  who,  having  refused  to  take  the  oath  of 
abjuration,  were  condemned  to  death  by  drowning, 
but  afterwards  reprieved.  Reprieve  notwithstand- 
ing, andeven  the  promise  of  a  full  pardon,  there  seems 
to  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  the  dread  sentence 
was  carried  out  to  the  letter.  Much  argument  has 
been  used  to  bolster  up  both  positions,  but  the  evi- 
dence adduced  by  Dr.  Archibald  Stewart,  minister  of 
Glasserton,  in  his  History  vindicated  in  the  case  of  the 
Wigtown  Martyrs  (1869),  disposes  once  for  all  of  any 
difficulty  as  to  the  fact  of  drowning.  An  old  lady 
(Miss  Susan  Heron)  who  was  alive  in  1834,  remem- 
bered her  grandfather  saying  that  "  There  were  cluds 
o'folkonthe  sands  that  day  in  clusters  here  and  there 
praying  for  the  women  as  they  were  put  down." 

Whim  at  last  the  blow  fell  and  Lag's  royal  master 
was  forced  to  fly  from  his  kingdom,  Nemesis  followed 
349 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

hard  on  the  heels  of  Grierson.  Lord  Kenmure  seized 
him  and  carried  him  prisoner  to  theTolbooth  at  Kirk- 
cudbright. He  lay  for  some  time  also  in  the  Edin- 
burgh Tolbooth,  but  ultimately  obtained  release  on 
a  large  bail.  On  8th  July  1689,  he  was  again  appre- 
hended on  suspicion  of  being  concerned  with  Claver- 
house  and  others  in  a  plot  against  the  Convention 
Parliament.  But  about  the  end  of  August  he  was 
liberated  on  account  of  the  state  of  his  health,  after 
giving  bail  to  the  amount  of  £1500.  In  1692  and 
1693  he  was  in  ward  in  the  Canongate  Tolbooth,  and 
for  several  years  thereafter  much  of  his  time  was 
passed  in  durance  vile. 

Lag  took  no  personal  share  in  the  Fifteen  attempt, 
but  allowed  two  of  his  sons,  William  and  Gilbert,  to 
join  Kenmure's  unlucky  expedition  into  England.  At 
Preston  both  were  taken  prisoners.  There  is  a  tradi- 
tion that  William  lay  in  the  Tower  of  London  for 
several  weeks  awaiting  the  headman's  axe,  his  coffin 
in  a  corner  of  his  cell.    A  fine  was  ultimately  imposed. 

As  for  old  Lag's  exit  from  this  life,  the  legends  are 
thick  as  leaves  in  Vallombrosa.  He  died  in  the  last 
hours  of  the  year  1733 — a  night  of  portents  !  Before 
his  end  came,  relays  of  men  stood  from  theNith  to  the 
Turnpike  (Lag's  Dumfries  house)  constantly  passing 
up  buckets  of  water  to  cool  his  burning  gouty  limbs, 
"  and  the  instant  his  feet  touched  the  water  it  fizzed 
and  boiled."  So  corpulent  was  Lag  that  a  breach 
required  to  be  made  in  the  wall  ere  his  corpse  could 
be  taken  out  for  burial  (an  ascertained  fact).  The  Evil 

35o 


At 


ioi 


i 

^-  •  *•■'»*  m* 

1*^*^*- 


V", 


MRS  ANN   WALDIE 
"Rachel  Geddes" 


REDGAUNTLET 

The  authorship  is  claimed  for  William  Irving,  school- 
master of  Hoddam,  who  died  in  1782,  though  Car- 
lyle  told  his  nephew,  John  Aitken  Carlyle,  that  the 
author  was  John  Orr,  the  old  schoolmaster  so  graphi- 
cally sketched  in  the  Reminiscences  as  a  man  "re- 
ligious and  enthusiastic,  though  in  practice  irregular 
with  drink."  In  its  scope  the  Elegy  embraces  all  the 
principal  and  many  of  the  subordinate  actors  in  the 
Persecution,  Claverhouse  leading  the  way,  and  receiv- 
ing Satan's  thanks  for  his  services,  but  being  some- 
what cruelly  reminded  of  his  conduct  at  Drumclog. 
The  work  interests  us  from  the  fact  that  Scott  pos- 
sessed a  copy  which  almost  certainly  furnished  him 
with  hints  for  "  Wandering  Willie's  Tale."  Possibly 
that  most  distinctive  touch  in  his  description  of  Sir 
Robert  Redgauntlet  was  suggested  by  the  line — 

"  He  bore  my  image  on  his  brow," 

although  the  horse-shoe  frown  is  said  to  have  been 
borrowed  from  the  sister  of  Weir  the  Warlock,  that 
Major  Weir  who  gives  name  to  the  jackanapes  in  the 
Tale.  Not  unlikely  Scott  had  a  vivid  recollection  of 
the  lampooner's  picture  of  Lag  sitting  "  in  the  great 
chair  "  in  hell  where  he  represents  the  cavalier  as  pre- 
eminent amongst  the  damned.  "  Bluidy  Dalyell," 
"  dissolute  Rothes,"  Sir  George  Mackenzie,  Sir  James 
Turner,  Lauderdale,  Westerhall,  Sharp,  Bonshaw, 
Earlshall,  and  the  rest  has  each  his  place  grouped 
round  the  infinitely  darker  figure  of  Lag — "  none  for- 
warder among  them  all."  It  is  thus  that  the  Arch- 
Fiend  soliloquises  : 
353  z 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

What  fatal  news  is  this  I  hear  ! 

On  earth  who  shall  my  standard  bear  ? 

For  Lag,  who  was  my  champion  brave, 

Is  dead,  and  now  laid  in  his  grave  ! 

The  want  of  him  is  a  great  grief  ; 

He  was  my  manager  in  chief, 

Who  sought  my  kingdom  to  improve, 

And  to  my  laws  he  had  great  love. 

Could  such  a  furious  fiend  as  I 

Shed  tears,  my  cheeks  would  never  dry  ; 

But  I  would  mourn  both  night  and  day, 

'Cause  Lag  from  earth  is  ta'en  away. 

It  is  no  wonder  I  am  sad, 
A  better  friend  I  never  had, 
Thro'  all  the  large  tract  of  his  time, 
He  never  did  my  ways  decline  ; 
He  was  my  constant  trusty  liege, 
Who  at  all  times  did  me  oblige  ; 
But  now  what  shall  I  think  or  say  ? 
By  death  at  last  he's  ta'en  away. 

He  was  no  coward  to  relent, 
No  man  dare  say  he  did  repent 
Of  the  good  service  done  to  me  ; 
For  as  he  lived  so  did  he  die. 
He  bore  my  image  on  his  brow, 
My  service  he  did  still  avow  ; 
He  had  no  other  deitie 
But  this  world,  the  flesh,  and  me  ; 
The  thing  that  he  delighted  in, 
Was  what  the  pious  folks  call  sin  ; 

, ,  and  such  vice, 

Such  pleasures  were  his  paradise. 
T'  excess  he  drunk  beer  and  wine 
Till  he  was  drunken  like  a  swine. 
No  Sabbath  day  regarded  he, 
But  spent  it  in  profanity. 

But  that  which  raised  his  fame  so  hie, 
Was  the  good  service  done  to  me, 
In  bearing  of  a  deadly  fead 
'Gainst  people  who  did  pray  and  read. 

354 


REDGAUNTLET 

Any  who  reads  the  Scriptures  thro' 
I'm  sure  they'll  find  but  very  few 
Of  my  best  friends  that's  mention'd  there 
That  can  with  Grier  of  Lag  compare. 

Although  Cain  was  a  bloody  man, 
He  to  Lag's  latchets  never  came, 
In  shedding  of  the  blood  of  those 
Who  did  my  laws  and  ways  oppose. 

Doeg,  the  Edomite,  did  slay 
Four  score  and  five  priests  in  one  day  ; 
But  if  you'll  take  the  will  for  deed, 
Brave  Lag  did  Doeg  far  exceed  : 
He  of  the  royal  blood  was  come, 
Of  Ahab  he  was  a  true  son  ; 
For  he  did  sell  himself  to  me 
To  work  sin  and  iniquitie. 
Herod  for  me  had  a  great  zeal, 
Tho'  his  main  purpose  far  did  fail  ; 
He  many  slew  by  a  decree, 
But  did  not  toil  so  much  for  me 
As  Lag,  who  in  his  person  went 
To  every  place  where  he  was  sent 
To  persecute  both  man  and  wife, 
Who  he  knew  led  a  pious  life." 

•  •••••• 

The  Mephistophelian  speaker  then  passes  into  pro- 
fane history — into  the  record  of  the  Persecution,  in 
which  Grierson  is  ever  his  devoted  champion.  And 
at  the  end  Lag's  "  place  "  is  well  defined  in  the  sig- 
nificant remark : 

"  Now  Lag  lives  hot  and  bien  with  me !  " 

Of  Hugh  Redgauntlet  (modelled  from  Scott's  inti- 
mate, the  fifth  Sir  Robert  Grierson*),  that  fiery  Laird 

*  The  fifth  Sir  Robert  of  Lag  died  in  1839,  at  the  age  of  102. 
"Usually  the  kindest  and  best-hearted  of  men,  as  many  of  his 
race  have  been,  it  was  a  small  matter  that  would  bring  out  the 
horse-shoe  upon  his  forehead  ;  and  at  such  a  moment  he  was  a 
terror  to  his  household." — The  Laird  of  Lag. 

355 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

of  the  Solway  Loch  who  gives  the  novel  its  name, 
a  word  must  be  said.  He  is,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
real  hero — a  remarkable  figure  throughout.  Indeed, 
it  may  be  doubted  if  Scott  ever  did  a  better  piece  of 
work.  Nobody  but  Scott  could  have  done  justice  to 
this  so  strongly-marked  and  romantic  character,  and 
at  the  same  time  have  retained  sympathy  for  the 
nominal  heroes  of  the  story.  There  was  much  that 
was  noble  about  Hugh  Redgauntlet.  His  pride,  his 
fidelity  to  his  principles,  his  determination  to  carry 
them  into  effect — if  he  could,  even  his  turbulent  pas- 
sion, are  (in  his  case)  all  commendable  qualities.  He 
could  love  and  hate  with  all  his  heart,  but  his  love 
depended  on  submission  to  his  will.  To  Darsie  all 
his  soul  went  out — as  the  only  son  of  his  murdered 
brother,  and  the  last  hope  of  his  race.  And  yet  he 
spoke  to  him  sincerely  when  he  said :  "If  you  yourself 
crossed  my  path  in  opposition,  I  swear  by  the  mark 
that  darkens  my  brow,  that  a  new  deed  should  be  done 
— a  new  doom  should  be  deserved  !  '  At  the  end  he 
was  better  than  his  words.  His  truer  nature  triumph- 
ed ;  and  to  Darsie,  to  whom  he  had  looked  for  so  much, 
and  to  Lilias,  who  would  have  been  his  comforter 
in  exile,  he  gave  his  benediction  as  he  left  Scotland  for 
ever.  Amid  a  cloister's  retirement  he  never  spoke  of 
his  past,  or  of  the  part  he  had  played  (another  Fergus 
Mac-Ivor)  in  seeking  to  inspire  lukewarm  partisans 
with  his  ardour.  But  he  never  forgot  it,  he  never  re- 
pented of  it,  and  he  died  with  the  silver  box  about  his 
neck  inscribed  with  the  motto,  Haud  obliviscendum. 


CHAPTER  TWENTY-TWO 

CHRONICLES  OF  THE  CANONGATE 
"MRS.  BETHUNE  BALIOL" 


"The  endearing  elegance  of  female  friendship." 

Samuel  Johnson. 


CHAPTER  TWENTY-TWO 

CHRONICLES  OF  THE  CANONGATE 
"MRS.  BETHUNE  BALIOL" 

SCOTT  HAD  MANY  FRIENDSHIPS  ON  THE 
spindle-side.  He  was  a  standing  contradiction  to  the 
notion  held  in  his  own  day,  and  held  still,  that  there 
can  be  no  real  intellectual  intercourse,  no  genuine  and 
simple  friendship  between  men  and  women,  "  so  un- 
wholesomely  is  the  imagination  of  man  affected  by 
ideas  of  sex."  History  in  every  age  has  contradicted 
this  theory :  Michael  Angelo  and  Vittoria  Colonna, 
Leibnitz  and  the  Princess  Palatine,  Swift  and  Stella, 
Cowper  and  Mary  Unwin,  Burns  and  Clarinda,  and 
many  another.  In  the  case  of  Sir  Walter  Scott  the 
theory  absolutely  falls  to  pieces.  His  friendships  with 
women  and  his  relations  to  the  women  who  rejoiced 
in  his  friendship  were  of  the  highest,  the  knightliest 
order. 

In  early  life  he  had  his  sister  Anne,  alluded  to  so 
tenderly  in  the  Autobiography,  an  invalid,  but  with 
much  of  his  own  imaginative  and  romantic  tempera- 
ment, without  his  power  of  controlling  it.  It  was  to 
Aunt  Jenny  that  he  confided  his  intention  of  becom- 
ing a  "  virtuoso — one  who  must  and  will  know  every- 
thing." He  had  aunts  on  his  mother's  side  (well-read 
women)  who  were  his  very  good  friends  and  helpers  in 
the  time  of  his  intellectual  growth.  It  was  a  woman 
(as  mentioned  elsewhere)  who  announced  his  genius 
to  the  world.  Nor  can  we  forget  the  kind  Kelso 
Quakeress.  In  his  student  days,  Mary  Anne  Erskine 
359 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

and  Jane  Anne  Cranstoun  were  the  sisters  who  kept 
house  for  their  respective  brothers,  Scott's  bosom 
cronies.  Miss  Erskine's  letter  to  Scott  on  the  eve  of 
her  marriage  is  the  quintessence  of  single-minded- 
ness  and  trust  in  the  good  sense  and  graciousness  of 
her  friend :  "  I  can  express  but  a  very  very  little  of 
what  I  feel,  and  ever  shall  feel,  for  your  unremitting 
friendship  and  attention.  I  have  ever  considered  you 
as  a  brother,  and  shall  now  think  myself  entitled  to 
make  still  larger  claims  on  your  confidence.  I  cannot 
tell  you  my  distress  at  leaving  this  house  where  I  have 
enjoyed  so  much  real  happiness,  and  giving  up  the 
service  of  so  gentle  a  master.  I  will  therefore  only 
commend  him  to  your  care,  as  the  last  bequest  of 
Mary  Anne  Erskine,  and  conjure  you  to  continue  to 
each  other  throughout  your  pilgrimage  as  you  have 
commenced  it."  Which  they  did.  And  Scott's  heart 
almost  broke  when  Will  Erskine  died,  "  slain  by  a 
silly  piece  of  gossip."  Scott's  relations  with  Miss 
Cranstoun  have  already  been  dealt  with.  Her  Let- 
ters, printed  in  the  Life,  are  among  the  liveliest  corre- 
spondence Lockhart  has  utilised.  After  Scott's  mar- 
riage his  friendships  take  on  a  different  colour.  He 
was  hastening  to  the  period  of  his  literary  successes, 
and  we  find  him  forming  intimacies  with  the  Swan 
of  Lichfield  and  Joanna  Baillie.  Much  of  Anna 
Seward's  verse  Scott  thought  "execrable,"  but  on 
her  death  he  proceeded  to  edit  it.  When  Joanna 
Baillie's  The  Family  Legend  was  acted  in  Edinburgh 

Scott  did  all  he  could  to  make  it  popular.    His  corre- 

360 


"MRS.  BETHUNE  BALIOL  " 

spondence  with  Maria  Edgeworth  is  among  the  most 
delightful  of  those  Familiar  Letters  which  reveal  Scott 
in  his  very  best  and  noblest  moods.  Then  there  is 
that  other  most  notable  group  of  friends  which  com- 
prised his  lovely  chieftainesses — the  Duchess  of  Buc- 
cleuch ;  Frances,  Lady  Douglas  * ;  and  Lady  Louisa 
Stuart,  daughter  of  that  unlucky  statesman,  John, 
Earl  of  Bute.  In  Scott 's  world  of  women  Lady  Louisa 
was  almost  the  central  figure.  A  Scots  lady  of  the 
olden  time,  who  discoursed  in  the  Doric  with  admir- 
able felicity  and  with  that  pride  which  ladies  in  her 
position  could  so  well  affect,  she  was  at  the  same 
time  the  very  best  critic  Scott  ever  had,  and  she 
never  spared  what  she  had  to  say.  To  her  was  due 
much  of  Scott 's  information  regarding  Jeanie  Deans's 
Duke  of  Argyll,  whose  Memoir  Lady  Louisa  com- 
piled. And  she  set  Scott  right  about  poor  Lady 
Suffolk. 

Another  of  those  old-time  lady  friends  of  Scott's, 
to  whom  he  was  indebted  for  many  exquisite  touches 
here  and  there  throughout  the  novels,  and  for  many 
of  the  facts  on  which  the  novels  themselves  were 
based,  was  Mrs.  Anne  Murray  Keith,  the  Original  of 
that  fine  portrait  prefixed  to  the  Chronicles  of  the 
Canongate — Mrs.  Martha  Bethune  Baliol.  When  she 
died  in  1818  Scott  wrote  of  her:  "  Much  tradition, 
and  of  the  very  best  kind,  has  died  with  this  excellent 
old  lady  :  one  of  the  few  persons  whose  spirits  and 

*  Lad j'  Louisa  Stuart,  curiously,  thought  that  Scott  had  derived 
some  of  the  traits  of  Jeanie  Deans  from  Lady  Frances. 
36l 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

cheerfulness,  and  freshness  of  mind  and  body,  made 
old  age  lovely  and  desirable." 

Anne  Keith  came  of  the  stock  of  the  Keiths  of 
Craig,  in  Kincardineshire.  The  story  goes  that  young 
Robert  Keith  of  Craig  "  ran  off  "  with  Margaret  Cun- 
ningham of  Caprington.  A  happy  husband  she  made 
him,  but  when  her  five  children  were  all  young  the 
beautiful  little  mother  "  faded  like  a  summer  cloud 
away."  Her  eldest  son  became  Ambassador  Sir 
Robert  Keith,  following  his  father  at  the  Court  of 
Vienna.  The  second  boy,  Sir  Basil,  became  Governor 
of  Jamaica  ;  and  of  her  three  charming  daughters, 
Anne,  the  youngest,  is  the  best  known,  although  Jan- 
nie  (rendered  a  cripple  by  a  burning  accident)  de- 
serves to  be  remembered  as  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  Longmore  Hospital  for  Incurables. 

Anne's  long  life  (she  survived  the  others)  was  spent 
chiefly  in  Edinburgh.  For  us  it  touches  interest  when, 
in  1794,  she  settled  in  a  George  Square  flat  with  her 
"  chum  "  (her  own  word),  Anne,  Countess  of  Balcar- 
res  (cousin  also),  and  mother  of  the  author  of  "  Auld 
Robin  Gray."  There  the  two  Amies  lived  for  several 
years  in  close  and  joyous  comradeship,  entertaining 
their  friends,  enjoying  their  little  whist-parties,  nor 
ever  neglectful  of  the  higher  things  of  mind  and  soul. 
By  and  by  a  little  shrinking  girl  of  eight  years, 
orphaned  through  the  sudden  death  of  her  parent, 
the  Vienna  plenipotentiary,  came  North — a  legacy 
which  the  kind  old  aunt  accepted  with  "  tender  gra- 
titude."   When  the  King  (George  in.)  heard  that  the 

362 


Ci- 


Jan- 
Auid 


l^^nOnHXH 


!l 


ANNE   MURRAY   KEITH 
"Mrs  Bethunc  Baliol  " 


"MRS.  BETHUNE  BALIOL" 

simplest  manner  possible,  so  as  to  appear  neatly 
smoothed  under  a  cap  of  Flanders  lace,  of  an  old- 
fashioned  but  of  a  very  handsome  form." 

Mrs.  Anne  Murray  Keith  lives  also  (rather  lived) 
as  Mrs.  Sydney  Hume  in  the  pages  of  that  novel  (now 
long  forgotten)  called  Probation,  the  work  of  the  little 
London  ward  grown  into  a  woman.*  Mrs.  Hume's 
"snug  little  parlour"  is  a  much  humbler  dwelling  than 
the  baronial  mansion  of  the  Canongate,  but  many  of 
its  interior  characteristics  are  identical,  and  the  pen- 
portrait  of  its  mistress  is  much  akin  to  Scott's — "  her 
curls  of  ivory  white,  the  lofty  brow,  the  nose  which 
must  in  youth  have  been  somewhat  strong  for  femin- 
ine beauty,  the  large  blue  eyes,  and  mouth  around 
which  smiles  of  good-humour  and  genuine  enjoyment 
usually  mantled,  softened  the  manlier  conformation  of 
the  other  features;  and  joined  to  the  pale,  though  not 
sickly  hue  of  the  once  fair  skin,  gave  altogether  an  as- 
pect at  once  feminine  and  interesting." 

Mrs.  Keith's  life  drew  to  its  close  in  quiet  content- 
ment and  in  a  sort  of  stately  dignity.  When  age  crept 
on,  the  "  chums  "  left  Edinburgh  for  ever,  and  found 
their  last  resting-place  (in  a  twofold  sense)  within  the 
ancient  Lindsay  domicile  at  Balcarres,  where  first  the 
one  died,  as  has  been  mentioned,  in  1818,  the  com- 
panion following  two  years  afterwards. 

"  I  have  never  known  any  one,"  wrote  Scott  to 

*  Mrs.  A.  Gillespie  Smyth  of  Gibliston,  author  of  Silwyn,  Tales  of 
the  Moors,  Memoirs  and  Correspondence  of  Sir  Robert  Murray  Keith, 
etc. 

365 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

Mrs.  Lindsay  of  Balcarres,  "whose  sunset  was  so 
enviably  serene.     Such  was  the  benevolence  of  her 
disposition,  that  one  almost  thought  Time  respected 
a  being  so  amiable,  and  laid  his  hand  upon  her  so 
gradually  that  she  reached  the  extremity  of  age, 
and  the  bowl  was  broken  at  the  cistern  before  she 
experienced  either  the  decay  of  her  organs  or  of 
her  excellent   intellect.     Nothing  could  have  been 
more  acceptable  to  me  than  such  a  token  of  remem- 
brance [the  legacy  of  a  ring],  for  I  held  very  dear  the 
place  which  she  allowed  me  in  her  esteem,  and  it  was 
not  the  less  valuable  to  me  that  I  owed  it,  as  much  at 
least  to  her  kind  partiality  in  favour  of  a  friend,  as  to 
her  judgment,  which  was  too  correct  to  have  ranked 
me  so  highly  as  an  author.    We  who  have,  so  much 
longer  than  the  ordinary  period  of  human  life  could 
have  warranted,  enjoyed  the  society  of  this  excellent 
woman,  and  who  can  never  know  any  one  who  can 
be  to  us  what  she  was,  cannot  but  reflect  upon  her 
virtues,  her  talents,  her  exquisite  elasticity,  and  at 
the  same  time  her  kindness  of  disposition.    We  must 
always  hold  everything  sacred  that  is  connected  with 
her  memory,  as  one  who  lived  among  us  with  all  the 
recollections  of  a  former  generation,  yet  with  all  the 
warmth  of  heart  and  clearness  of  intellect  which  en- 
abled her  to  enter  into  the  events  and  interests  of  our 
own." 


CHAPTER  TWENTY-THREE 

THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER 
"GIDEON   GRAY" 


Luckless  is  he,  whom  hard  fates  urge  on 
To  practise  as  a  country  surgeon." 

Quis  (1817). 


CHAPTER  TWENTY-THREE 

THE  SURGEON'S  DAUGHTER  AND 
"GIDEON  GRAY" 

THE    AVOWAL   OF   THE    AUTHORSHIP    OF 

Wavcrley  and  its  august  company  is  one  of  the  land- 
marks not  only  of  Sir  Walter's  life  but  of  Litera- 
ture itself.    Scott  chose  neither  the  occasion  nor  the 
moment  of  the  great  revelation.    It  fell  out  simply 
and  naturally  and  was  void  of  all  pre-arrangements. 
The  mask,  "like  Aunt  Dinah's  in  Tristram  Shandy, 
was  laid  aside  with  a  good  grace  "  and  in  the  most 
honourable  fashion,  and  attended  by  a  demonstra- 
tion of  enthusiasm  such  as  Edinburgh  has  seldom 
witnessed.  On  the  23rd  February  1827,  at  the  Theat- 
rical Fund  Dinner,  Scott  declared  that  "  he  was  the 
author,  the  total  and  undivided  author,  that  (with 
the  exception  of  quotations)  there  was  not  a  single 
word  that  was  not  derived  from  himsel  f . ' '  November 
of  that  same  year  saw  the  first  series  of  the  Chronicles 
of  the  Canongate,  containing  The  Highland  Widow, 
the  tale  of   The  Two  Drovers,   and  The  Surgeon's 
Daughter.    The  last  of  these,  the  longer  story,  was 
founded  on  a  modicum  of  fact  furnished  by  that  in- 
defatigable "jackal"  Train  (see  Appendix  to  Intro- 
duction to  the  novel).    At  the  commencement,  the 
locale  is  Scotland,  but  by  and  by  the  characters  are 
transferred  to  the  pomp  and  glitter  of  an  Indian 
Court,  where,  however,  Scott  preserves  them  un- 
changed amid  every  turn  of  fortune  and  situation. 
The  Hindostan  scenes  are  spirited — that  is  to  say,  for 

369  2  A 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS  THE  SUR- 

one  who  had  never  been  in  India.  Colonel  Ferguson 
of  Huntlyburn — the  Mackerris  of  "  Mr.  Croft  angry 's 
Conclusion  " — talked  with  Scott  on  matters  connect- 
ed with  the  East.  The  novel,  especially  towards  its 
close,  is  crowded  with  improbabilities,  and  on  the 
whole  it  is  not  particularly  interesting.  The  denoue- 
ment is  dramatic  enough,  but  too  glaring  to  be  pleas- 
ing. One  little  incident — a  tale  within  a  tale — is 
worth  pages  of  the  story — where  Sadhu  Sing  sits  by 
the  grave  of  his  bride  Mora  to  his  own  dying  day. 

As  for  the  dramatis  persona  from  the  old  land, 
pretty  Menie  Gray,  gentle  and  sweet,  wins  all  hearts. 
Her  lover  (or  once  her  lover),  Richard  Middlemas,  is 
the  most  consummate,  most  unredeemable  scoundrel 
in  the  Waverley  series.  Hartley,  true-blue  hero  to  the 
last,  hardly  gets  his  deserts. 

With  the  surgeon  himself,  Gideon  Gray — who  has 
no  connection  with  the  Indian  part  of  the  tale — we 
are  on  ground  in  which  Scott  was  at  his  best — the  de- 
lineation of  Lowland  life  and  manners.  The  scenes 
inthestreet  at  Middlemas,  which  is  held  tobe  Selkirk, 
the  race  of  the  three  Luckies,  and  the  portrait  of  the 
country  doctor,  are  wholly  admirable.  Scott's  roman- 
ces teem  with  representatives  of  law  and  divinity,  but 
how  seldom  are  the  men  of  medicine  admitted  into  the 
golden  circle  !  Yet  Scott  had  a  supreme  respect  for 
the  medical  profession.  Many  of  his  forebears  belong- 
ed to  its  honourable  guild,  and  his  own  repeated  ill- 
nesses brought  him  into  close  touch  with  some  of  the 

most  noted  practitioners  of  the  day.    It  is  Clarkson 

37o 


SUR.  j 

land,  j 

nas.is 

.r.i'el 

!  to  the 

- 

iotas  1 

!t— we  j 

he  de-  j 

I 


DR   EBENEZER   CLARK.SON 
"Gideon  Gray" 


CHAPTER  TWENTY-FOUR 
IS  SCOTT  SELF-REVEALED? 


"  Every  author,  in  some  degree,  portrays  himself  in  his  works, 

even  be  it  against  his  will." 

Goethe. 


CHAPTER  TWENTY-FOUR 

IS  SCOTT  SELF-REVEALED  ? 

THIS  IS  A  QUITE  PERTINENT  QUESTION— 
as  pertinent  as  Professor  Dowden's  "  Is  Shakespeare 
self-revealed?  "  It  can  scarcely  be  doubted  that  in 
the  Waverleys  we  are  constantly  faced  by  a  portrait- 
ure of  the  immortal  author  himself.  More  than  any 
other  novelist,  mayhap,  it  may  be  said  that  Sir  Wal- 
ter sat  for  his  own  picture  in  his  own  resplendent 
studio.  He  makes  himself  not  infrequently  the  hero 
of  the  story,  or  one  of  its  central  figures  at  all  events. 
For  those  who  are  acquainted  with  Scott's  history, 
and  who  know  their  Lockhart,  the  difficulty  in  the 
way  of  identification  is  trifling.  Scott's  character, 
and  sentiments,  and  foibles,  shine  with  a  conspicuous- 
ness  which  is  as  remarkable  as  it  is  evident.  Many 
passages  are  autobiographic  gems  of  the  first  water. 
His  early  life  at  Smailholm,  the  years  of  delicate 
health,  his  familiarity  with  the  stories  of  Border  ro- 
mance and  chivalry,  and  with  the  old-fashioned  rural 
life  of  Southern  Scotland,  all  find  an  echo  in  the  pages 
both  of  the  Poems  and  Novels.  It  was  at  Sandy knowe 
that  he  became  inspired  with  that  sentiment  of  Jacob  it- 
ism  which  produced  the  most  touching  passages  in 
Waver  ley  and  Redgauntlet.  It  is  Scott's  own  boyhood 
which  is  recalled  in  the  account  that  Frank  Osbald- 
istone  gives  of  his  nurse's  tales  of  the  Border.  Old 
Mabel  Rickets  is  a  Northumbrian,  and  tells  her  stories 
from  an  English  point  of  view,  but  the  instances  de- 
scribed are  Scott's  own,  and  it  is  his  own  youthful 
375 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

mind  which  was  fed  upon  the  rhymes  and  ballads  of 
the  north  country,  and  the  legends  of  the  Black 
Douglas  and  Wat  the  Devil.    It  is  the  quiet  simple 
life  of  his  native  Lowlands  which  Scott  has  limned 
in  Guy  Mannering  and  the  Black  Dwarf  and  the  Mon- 
astery.   Innumerable  passages  might  be  quoted  to 
show  where  and  how  his  spoils  had  been  gathered 
by  the  banks  of  the  Tweed  and  the  green  braes  of 
Sandyknowe  and  Brotherstone.  Take  his  schooldays, 
again.    Are  they  not  recorded  in  the  Letters  of  Alan 
Fairford  and  Darsie  Latimer  ?  Scott  was  not  a  scho- 
lar in  the  exact  sense,  but  he  won  praise  for  his  ap- 
preciation of  the  classic  authors,  and  his  devotion 
to  verse  was  keen  and  eager.    From  an  early  age  he 
even  tried  his  hand  at  it.    The  "bickers"  or  street 
fights  which  formed  so  common  a  feature  in  the  school 
life  of  Edinburgh  are  recalled  in  Redgauntlet  and  in 
the  Greenbreeks  Episode  of  the  General  Introduction. 
Scott's  College  days,  the  time  of  his  law  apprentice- 
ship, and  his  experience  as  an  advocate  have  their 
undistorted  reflection  in  the  Waverley  mirror.    For 
Scott's  early  studies — the  books  which  he  read — one 
has  to  turn  to  the  opening  of  Waverley — Shakespeare, 
Milton,  Spenser,  Drayton  :  the  romantic  literature  of 
Italy,  Froissart's  Chronicles  with  their  heart -stirring 
and  eye-dazzling  descriptions  of  war  and  of  tourna- 
ments, English  and  Scottish  and  Spanish  metrical 
romances,  and  all  the  lore  of  the  Border.    As  with 
Edward  Waverley,  the  education  of  Scott  was  of  a 

somewhat  desultory  nature.    Lockhart  describes  two 

376 


■i 


V.IJIM* 


raple 

;dto 

:e:ed 

5  Of 

Man 
scho- 

;ap- 

:hool 
tm 

are, 


SIR  WALTER  SCOTT,   BART., 
From  a  painting  by  Graham  Lindsay 


IS  SCOTT  SELF-REVEALED? 

and  withered  by  final  disappointment  it  seems  as  if 
the  springs  of  the  heart  were  dried  up  along  with  it." 

The  personal  element  in  Rob  Roy  is  especially 
striking.  Frank  Osbaldistone  is  Scott,  through  and 
through,  more  completely  perhaps  than  any  of  his 
heroes.  And  the  love  episodes  in  that  novel  can, 
again,  have  only  one  basis — Scott's  first  and  fondest 
attachment.  The  library  scenes  where  Frank  and  Di 
read  Ariosto  together, — above  all,  that  brief,  tearful 
farewell  spoken  in  the  moonlight,  are  clearly  autobio- 
graphic. It  has  been  shown,  too,  that  Frank's  political 
creed  is  Scott's  own :  Jacobitism  offends  his  judgment 
while  appealing  to  his  sentiment.  He  is  no  singer, but 
is  said  to  have  sung  a  song  while  drunk.  The  same  in- 
cident happened  to  Scott.  The  Osbaldistones, like  the 
Scotts,  are  a  long-descended  family  of  country  gentle- 
men, and  Frank's  father,  like  Scott's,  has  been  the  first 
to  engage  in  business.  Frank,  like  Scott,  hated  the 
drudgery  of  a  commercial  life.  It  went  against  his 
grain,  and  so  he  escaped  from  its  trammels.  Even  so 
Scott  longed  to  be  free  from  the  weary  round  of  purely 
mundane  affairs  and  to  occupy  instead  the  coveted 
position  of  a  landed  proprietor. 

The  autobiographic  element  is  further  seen  in  the 
exquisite  portraiture  of  Colonel  Mannering,  a  man 
of  the  world,  but  a  gentleman  every  inch  of  him. 
In  those  clever  and  ingenious  letters  to  Richard 
Heber,  by  John  Leicester  Adolphus,  particular  men- 
tion is  made  of  Mannering's  high  qualities  as  an 
argument  that  the  author  of  Guy  Mannering  and  of 
379 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

Marmion  are  one  and  the  same.  "  Colonel  Manner- 
ing  is  one  of  the  most  striking  representations  I  am 
acquainted  with  of  a  gentleman  in  feelings  and  in 
manners,  in  habits,  taste,  predilection  ...  a  gentle- 
man even  in  prejudices,  passions,  and  caprices.  It 
was  no  vulgar  hand  that  drew  the  lineaments  of 
Colonel  Mannering."  Lockhart  tells  that  when  Guy 
Mannering  was  published,  Hogg  said  to  Professor 
Wilson  :  "  I  have  done  wi'  doubts  now.  Colonel  Man- 
nering is  just  Walter  Scott  painted  by  himself." 
When  this  was  told  to  Scott  he  smiled  in  approbation 
of  the  Shepherd's  shrewdness,  and  often  in  speaking 
to  Ballantyne  he  referred  to  himself  under  the  name 
of  Colonel  Mannering.  That  the  identification  should 
have  been  so  possible  and  so  just,  was  joyfully  ad- 
mitted by  Scott.  It  was  a  tribute  to  the  essentially 
splendid  character  of  the  man,  and  coming  as  it 
did  from  James  Hogg,  Scott  was  doubly  gratified. 
Mannering's  characterisation  corresponded  closely  to 
those  of  his  creator.  He  was  a  born  gentleman.  When 
we  first  make  his  acquaintance  he  is  a  man  who  ex- 
hibits a  deep  and  generous  delight  in  nature.  He  has 
a  certain  amount  of  family  pride,  and  he  was  pas- 
sionately in  love.  "  Beneath  his  eye  lay  the  modern 
house — an  awkward  mansion  indeed  in  point  of  archi- 
tecture, but  well  situated  and  with  a  warm,  pleas- 
ant exposure.  '  How  happily,'  thought  our  hero, 
'  would  life  glide  on  in  such  a  retirement  !  On  the 
one  hand,  the  striking  remnants  of  ancient  grandeur 

with  the  secret  consciousness  of  family  pride  which 

380 


IS  SCOTT  SELF-REVEALED  ? 

they  inspire  :  on  the  other,  enough  of  modern  elegance 
and  comfort  to  satisfy  every  modern  wish.  Here 
then,  and  with  thee,  Sophia.'  We  shall  not  pursue  a 
lover's  day-dream  any  further.  Mannering  stood 
a  moment  with  arms  folded  and  then  turned  to 
the  ruined  castle."  Years  pass  and  he  returned  to 
Ellangowan :  "  His  appearance,  voice  and  manner 
produced  an  instantaneous  effect  in  his  favour.  He 
was  a  handsome,  tall,  thin  figure  dressed  in  black,  as 
appeared  when  he  laid  aside  his  riding  coat :  his  age 
might  have  been  between  forty  and  fifty  :  his  cast  of 
features  grave  and  interesting  and  his  air  somewhat 
military.  Every  point  of  his  appearance  and  address 
bespoke  the  gentleman."  He  was  then  the  famous 
Colonel  Mannering  from  the  West  Indies,  with  all  his 
blushing  honours  thick  upon  him — the  relief  of  Cud- 
dieburn,  the  defence  of  Chingalore,  the  defeat  of 
the  great  Mahrattan  chief  Ram  Jolli  Bundleman.  His 
servant  says  of  him  :  "  You  never  saw  a  plainer  crea- 
ture in  your  life  than  our  old  Colonel  and  yet  he  has  a 
spice  of  the  devil  in  him  too."  So  had  Scott.  Again, 
Mannering's  marriage  was  not  altogether  happy.  "  I 
told  you,"  he  writes  to  a  friend,  "  I  had  that  upon 
my  mind  which  I  should  carry  to  my  grave,  with  me 
— a  perpetual  aloes  in  the  draught  of  existence."  His 
wife,  a  gay  and  thoughtless  young  thing,  appeared 
to  flirt  with  a  young  man,  and  her  husband  took  fire. 
They  came  to  an  understanding,  but  the  wife  died 
shortly  afterwards,  leaving  behind  her  the  sprightly 
daughter  whobecame  Julia  Mannering.  "  Julia  is  very 
38i 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

like  a  certain  friend  of  mine,"  said  her  father  ;  "  she 
has  a  quick  and  lively  imagination  and  keen  feelings 
which  are  apt  to  exaggerate  both  the  good  and  evil 
they  find  in  life.  She  is  a  charming  girl,  however,  as 
generous  and  spirited  as  she  is  lovely.  She  was  of 
middle  size,  or  rather  less,  but  formed  with  much  ele- 
gance, piercing  dark  eyes  and  jet  black  hair  of  great 
length  corresponded  with  the  vivacity  and  intelli- 
gence of  features  in  which  were  blended  a  little  haughti- 
ness and  a  little  bashfulness,  a  great  deal  of  shrewd- 
ness and  some  power  of  humorous  sarcasm."  This  is 
clearly  a  picture  of  Charlotte  Carpenter  in  the  early 
married  years  of  Scott's  life.  Elsewhere,  Scott  speaks 
of  her  as  "  a  brunette  as  dark  as  a  blackberry,  but 
her  person  and  face  are  very  engaging."  It  was  not 
entirely  a  love  match.  Lady  Scott's  temperament 
and  tastes  were  very  different  from  those  of  Scott. 
She  had  little  interest  in  his  studies,  and  it  is  said  that 
she  never  read  the  Waverleys.  She  was  "uppish," 
and  made  full  use  of  her  position  as  Lady  of  Abbots- 
ford.  Other  hints  have  been  handed  down  which  do 
not  need  to  be  repeated  here.  On  the  whole,  Charlotte 
Carpenter  made  Scott  quite  a  good  wife,  and  managed 
for  him  many  things  he  could  not  have  attempted  him- 
self. Scott's  grief  at  her  death,  and  his  entries  in  the 
Journal,  are  among  the  most  affecting  things  in  the 
Biography. 

To  return  to  Mannering.    Further  points  of  resem- 
blance between  Scott  and  the  Colonel  are  found  in 

the  hitter's  quick,  though  fairly  well-controlled  tem- 

382 


IS  SCOTT  SELF-REVEALED? 

per,  in  his  stoicism,  and  his  interest  in  the  occult 
sciences.  In  his  youth  he  studied  with  an  old  clergy- 
man who  was  an  astrologer  and  made  himself  pro- 
ficient in  the  technical  process  of  astrological  research. 
He  is  therefore  able  to  read  the  horoscope  of  the 
young  heir  of  Ellangowan.  Scott's  fancy  for  occult 
questions  is  one  of  the  commanding  things  in  his  car- 
eer. Lockhart  touches  on  some  aspects  of  this,  but 
the  novels  are  our  best  sources  of  information.  In  how 
many  of  these  does  Scott  demonstrate  the  action  of 
mystical  powers  ?  They  are  seldom  without  a  touch 
of  the  supernatural.  His  presentation  of  the  Unseen 
is  often  a  blemish  in  the  Waverleys — the  White  Lady, 
for  example.  Yet  that  was  the  way*m  which  Scott 
was  built .  He  was  capable  of  feeling  supernatural  fear 
(as  at  Glamis  Castle)  and  of  imparting  the  feeling  to 
others.  He  was  not  altogether  a  believer,  but  the 
subject  had  considerable  attractions  for  him,  as  wit- 
ness his  Letters  on  Demonology  and  Witchcraft,  a  work 
of  Scott's  declining  age  which,  naturally,  does  not  re- 
present him  at  his  best.  The  apparitions  in  the  Bride 
of  Lammermoor  (the  vision  of  Blind  Alice  at  the  foun- 
tain— the  best  wraith  in  fiction)  and  in  The  Betrothed 
are  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  the  first  of  these 
is  "part  of  the  legend,  and  the  second  that  it  is  but  a 
dream  et  praterea  nihil.  While  Noma  of  the  Fitful 
Headseems  in  league  with  powers  outside  of  life's  ordin- 
ary realm,  there  is  always  a  suspicion  that  the  informa- 
tion which  she  gives,  and  in  which  she  seldom  makes 
mistakes,  may  all  be  due  to  her  paid  agents,  to  her 
3«3 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

weather  wisdom,  to  her  knowledge  of  the  country  and 
of  human  nature.  The  crowning  triumph  in  Scott's 
treatment  of  the  supernormal  is  Wandering  Willie's 
Tale.  ' '  Perhaps  he  succeeded  here  because  he  wrote  of 
the  demon  world  in  the  manner  of  the  great  Scottish 
wi iters  from  Dunbar  to  Burns, — with  bristling  hair 
and  leery  eye,  with  fearful  reverence,  anc.  comical  at- 
tempt, with  ludicrous  horror,  and  familiar  fear." 

It  is  plain,  then  (not  to  further  labour  the  point), 
that  Scott  affixed  his  own  particular  portrait  in  the 
Waverley  Gallery.  The  merely  physical  man — his 
intellectual  qualities,  and  tastes,  and  pursuits,  his 
ambitions,  his  loves,  and  hopes,  and  fears,  have  been 
all  strongly  delineated.  While  he  painted  others,  he 
did  not  pass  himself  over.  While  he  judged  others, 
he  did  not  fail  to  sit  in  judgment  on  his  own  character- 
istics. He  never  praises  himself  unduly.  On  the  con- 
trary, he  is  often  severely  hard  on  himself,  satirising, 
for  instance,  his  own  antiquarian  foibles  in  Oldbuck, 
and  unveiling  the  very  secrets  of  his  heart,  and  the 
haunting  sorrows  of  his  life,  in  the  story  of  Chrystal 
Croftangry,that  dweller  in  the  Canongate  whose  auto- 
biography is  among  the  very  best  of  Scott's  work — 
haunted  by  heart-throbs  which  not  even  the  dullest 
ear  can  miss. 


CHAPTER  TWENTY-FIVE 
SCOTT'S  CLERICAL  CHARACTERS 


2   B 


"  There  goes  the  parson,  oh  illustrious  spark  !  " 

Cowper. 


CHAPTER  TWENTY-FIVE 

SCOTT'S  CLERICAL  CHARACTERS 

THAT  SCOTT  HAD  IN  HIM  A  VEIN  OF  GENU- 

ine  and  reverent  piety,  admits  of  no  dispute.  He  sel- 
dom talked  on  the  subject  of  religion,  as  indeed  he 
seldom  talked  about  any  of  the  deeper  feelings  of  the 
heart.  The  Scots  are  a  curiously  silent  folk  where 
such  questions  are  concerned,  and  Sir  Walter  followed 
the  characteristics  of  the  race.  Essentially  broad- 
minded,  Scott  allied  himself  to  no  definite  kind  of  or- 
thodoxy. But  that  he  had  grasped  something  of  the 
innermost  secret  of  the  Christian  faith  is  apparent  all 
through  the  Biography.  Few  men,  Professor  Saints- 
bury  says,  have  ever  so  well  observed  the  one  half  of 
the  apostle's  doctrine  as  to  pure  religion :  and  if  he  did 
not  keep  himself  (in  the  matter  of  the  secret  partner- 
ship and  other  things)  altogether  unspotted  from  the 
world,  the  suffering  of  his  last  seven  years  may  surely 
be  taken  as  a  more  than  sufficient  purification. 

What  was  Scott's  attitude  to  the  organised  Chris- 
tian Church  of  his  day  ?  He  was  a  Presbyterian  for  a 
considerable  portion  of  his  life  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
was  elected  an  elder  in  the  parish  of  Duddingston, 
though  he  is  never  likely  to  have  acted  in  that  capa- 
city. He  was  a  member  of  the  General  Assembly  for 
1806  and  1807  and,  at  the  same  time,  of  the  Edin- 
burgh Presbytery.  He  had  nothing  but  Presbyterian 
blood  in  his  veins.  Brought  up  under  parents  whose 
religion  was  strongly  Calvinistic,  he  tells  us  how  his 
boyish  nature  rebelled  against  the  discipline  of  the 
337 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

Presbyterian  Sabbath,  and  how  it  was  that  he  turned 
to  his  beloved  books  to  relieve  the  gloom  of  one  dull 
sermon  succeeding  another  and  the  tedium  annexed 
to  the  duties  of  the  day.  "  Eh  sirs,  mony  a  weary, 
weary  sermon  ha'e  I  heard  beneath  that  steeple,"  was 
his  remark  when  the  spire  of  the  Tron  Kirk,  where  his 
father  worshipped,  perished  in  the  great  fire  of  1824. 
A  reconciliation  to  church-going  seems  to  have  come 
over  him  in  early  manhood.  For  it  was  in  Grey  friars 
Churchyard  on  the  dispersal  of  the  congregation  on  a 
wet  Sunday  that  he  met  the  Lady  of  the  Green  Mantle, 
his  first  love,  whom  he  was  afterwards  in  the  habit 
of  escorting  home. 

Scott  had  strong  leanings,  however,  towards  the 
Episcopal  Church  of  Scotland.  Whilst  resident  in 
Edinburgh,  he  attended  St.  George's  Chapel  in  York 
Place — the  oldest  existing  Episcopal  place  of  wor- 
ship in  the  metropolis.  He  may  have  been  attracted 
hither  by  the  fact  that  the  Rev.  Alexander  Cleeve, 
B.A.,his  tutor  before  he  went  to  the  High  School,  was 
incumbent.  On  the  other  hand,  it  should  be  men- 
tioned that  Scott's  three  elder  children  were  baptized 
by  the  Rev.  Daniel  Sandford  (afterwards  Bishop)  of 
Charlotte  Chapel,  at  the  west  end  of  Rose  Street  (now 
in  process  of  demolition,  1911).  It  is  probable  that 
Scott  and  his  wife  sat  under  Sandford  for  some  years 
after  their  marriage  in  1797.  There  is  no  question  that 
from  1810  to  1825,  when  Abbotsford  was  completed, 
St.  George's  was  their  church.  An  entry  intheaccounts 

records  that  the  treasurer  had  "  received  from  Mr.  W. 

388 


SCOTT'S  CLERICAL  CHARACTERS 

Scott  the  sum  of  three  guineas,  being  the  rent  of  three 
sittings  in  Pew  No.  81  for  the  year  ending  Whitsunday 
1811."  Scott's  daughters,  Sophia  and  Anne,  were  con- 
firmed in  St.  George's,  and  on  Saturday  evening,  29th 
April  1820,  Sophia  was  marriedtoLockhart  by  the  Rev. 
Richard  Quaile  Shannon,  the  incumbent.  In  the  Ash- 
estiel  years,  and  at  Abbotsford,  Scott  was  accustomed 
to  read  the  Church  of  England  Service  on  Sundays, 
adding  sometimes  a  sermon  from  some  divine  whom 
he  specially  favoured,  English  or  Scottish.  He  seldom 
went  to  church  (parens  et  infrequens  cuUor  deorum), 
though  he  did  make  occasional  worshipping  visits  to 
Yarrow,  "  the  shrine  of  my  ancesters  "  ;  and  to  Mel- 
rose, which  was  his  own  parish  kirk.  He  attended  Sel- 
kirk church  in  his  capacity  as  Sheriff  on  official  occa- 
sions. Not  infrequently — more  especially  in  lateryears 
— he  turned  to  his  task  on  Sundays  as  on  week-days,  a 
proceeding  neither  good  for  him  nor  his  task  :  "  The 
ladies  went  to  church  :  I,  God  forgive  me  !  finished 
the  Chronicles  [of  the  Canongate}." 

All  this  notwithstanding,  Scott's  religion washonest 
and  sincere,  and  his  regard  for  the  Church  and  the 
ministerial  profession  was  borne  out  by  his  many 
clerical  friendships  on  both  sides  of  the  Border.  It  is 
on  record  that  he  allowed  his  temper  to  get  the  better 
of  him  when  informed  that  a  Galashiels  tradesman 
with  whom  he  was  in  the  habit  of  doing  business  at 
Abbotsford,  was  also  a  preacher. 

The  Waverleys  abound  with  representatives  of  the 
cloth,  and  some  of  Scott's  most  pleasing  characters 
389 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

are  in  the  ranks  of  the  clergy.  It  is  a  mistake  to  im- 
agine that  Scott  banned  the  Reformation  and  the  prin- 
ciples of  Presbyterianism.  He  has  not  a  word  to  say 
against  either.  In  The  Monastery  and  The  Abbot,  Scott 
recognised  the  preachers  of  the  Reformed  faith  as  ex- 
actly the  sort  of  men  "  suited  by  Providence  for  the 
times."  In  Elias  Henderson,  for  instance  (who  is 
thought  to  be  John  Knox  on  a  small  scale),  he  gives  us 
a  most  admirable  specimen  of  a  Protestant  chaplain — 
a  man  of  solid  accomplishments,  of  good  natural  parts, 
and,  as  is  shown  by  his  interview  with  Queen  Mary  at 
Loch  Leven,  courteous  and  courageous,  civil-spoken, 
and  possessed  of  fine  delicacy  of  feeling.  The  Rev. 
Henry  Warden  is  more  pronounced  in  his  views.  The 
vehemence  of  his  zeal  made  it  necessary  for  him  to  fly 
from  Edinburgh,  and  being  sheltered  by  Julian  Avenel, 
there  is  a  good  deal  of  honest  plain  talk  with  that  licen- 
tious and  outlawed  Baron  (who,  by  the  way,  had  his 
prototype  in  the  laird  of  Black  Ormiston).  Warden 
insisted  upon  Avenel's  marriage  with  the  wronged 
Catherine : 

"  '  Is  she  thy  house-dame  ? '  said  the  preacher  .  .  . 
'  Is  she,  in  brief,  thy  wife  ?  ' 

"  Avenel  answered  that  she  was  handfasted  to  him. 

"  '  Handfasted  !  '  repeated  Warden. 

"  '  Knowest  thou  not  that  rite,  holy  man  ? '  said 
Avenel  in  the  same  tone  of  derision  ;  '  then  I  will  tell 
thee.  We  Border  men  are  more  wary  than  your  in- 
land clowns  of  Fife  and  Lothian  :  no  jump  in  the  dark 

for  us,  no  clenching  the  fetters  around  our  wrists  till 

390 


SCOTT'S  CLERICAL  CHARACTERS 

we  know  how  they  will  wear  with  us  :  we  take  our 
wives  like  our  horses,  upon  trial.  When  we  are  hand- 
fasted,  as  we  term  it,  we  are  man  and  wife  for  a  year 
and  a  day  :  that  space  gone  by,  each  may  choose  an- 
other mate,  or  at  their  pleasure  may  call  the  priest  to 
marry  them  for  life,  and  this  we  call  handfasting.' 

"  'Then,'  said  the  preacher,  '  I  tell  thee,  noble 
Baron,  in  brotherly  love  to  thy  soul,  it  is  a  custom 
licentious,  gross,  and  corrupted,  and,  if  persisted  in, 
dangerous,  yea  damnable.  It  binds  thee  to  the  frail 
being  while  she  is  still  the  object  of  desire :  it  relieves 
thee  when  she  is  most  the  object  of  pity:  it  gives  all 
to  brutal  sense  and  nothing  to  generous  and  gentle 
affection.  I  say  to  thee  that  he  who  can  meditate 
the  breach  of  such  an  engagement,  abandoning  the 
deluded  woman  and  the  helpless  offspring,  is  worse 
than  the  birds  of  prey  :  for  of  them  the  males  remain 
with  their  mates  until  the  nestlings  can  take  wing. 
Above  all  I  say  is  it  contrary  to  the  pure  Christian 
doctrine,  which  assigns  woman  to  man  as  the  partner 
of  his  labour,  the  soother  of  his  evil,  his  helpmeet  in 
peril,  his  friend  in  affliction  :  not  as  the  toy  of  his 
looser  hours,  or  as  a  flower  which  once  cropped  he 
may  throw  aside  at  pleasure.'  " 

In  Guy  Mannering  Scott  has  painted  an  excellent 
portrait  of  Dr.  Erskine,  the  leader  of  the  Evangelical 
Party  in  the  Church  of  Scotland  : 

"  The  colleague  of  Dr.  Robertson  ascended  the 
pulpit.  His  external  appearance  was  not  prepossess- 
ing. A  remarkably  fair  complexion,  strangely  con- 
39i 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

trasted  with  a  black  wig  without  a  grain  of  powder  ;  a 
narrow  chest  and  a  stooping  posture  ;  hands  which, 
placed  like  props  on  either  side  of  the  pulpit,  seemed 
necessary  rather  to  support  the  person  than  to  assist 
the  gesticulation  of  the  preacher  ;  no  gown,  not  even 
that  of  Geneva,  a  tumbled  band  and  a  gesture  which 
seemed  scarce  voluntary,  were  the  first  circumstances 
which  struck  a  stranger.  '  The  preacher  seems  a  very 
ungainly  person,'  whispered  Mannering  to  his  new 
friend. 

"  '  Never  fear,  he's  the  son  of  an  excellent  Scottish 
lawyer ;  he'll  show  blood,  I'll  warrant  him.' 

"  The  learned  Counsellor  predicted  truly.  A  lecture 
was  delivered,  fraught  with  new,  striking,  and  enter- 
taining views  of  Scripture  history,  a  sermon  in  which 
the  Calvinism  of  the  Kirk  of  Scotland  was  ably  sup- 
ported, yet  made  the  basis  of  a  sound  system  of 
practical  morals,  which  should  neither  shelter  the 
sinner  under  the  cloak  of  speculative  faith  or  of 
peculiarity  of  opinion,  nor  leave  him  loose  to  the 
waves  of  unbelief  and  schism.  Something  there  was 
of  an  antiquated  turn  of  argument  and  metaphor,  but 
it  only  served  to  give  zest  and  peculiarity  to  the  style 
of  elocution.  The  sermon  was  not  read  ;  a  scrap  of 
paper  containing  the  heads  of  the  discourse  was  occa- 
sionally referred  to,  and  the  enunciation,  which  at 
first  seemed  imperfect  and  embarrassed,  became,  as 
the  preacher  warmed  in  his  progress,  animated  and 
distinct  ;  and  although  the  discourse  could  not  be 
quoted  as  a  correct  specimen  of  pulpit  eloquence,  yet 

392 


SCOTT'S  CLERICAL  CHARACTERS 

Mannering  had  seldom  heard  so  much  learning,  meta- 
physical acuteness,  and  energy  of  argument  brought 
into  the  service  of  Christianity. 

"  '  Such,'  he  said,  going  out  of  the  church,  '  must 
have  been  the  preachers  to  whose  unfearing  minds 
and  acute,  though  sometimes  rudely  exercised,  talents, 
we  owe  the  Reformation.' 

"  '  And  yet  that  reverend  gentleman,'  said  Pleydell, 
'  whom  I  love  for  his  father's  sake  and  his  own,  has 
nothing  of  the  sour  or  pharisaical  pride  which  has 
been  imputed  to  some  of  the  early  fathers  of  the  Cal- 
vinistic  Kirk  of  Scotland.  His  colleague  and  he  differ, 
and  head  different  parties  in  the  kirk,  about  particular 
points  of  church  discipline  ;  but  without  for  a  moment 
losing  personal  regard  or  respect  for  each  other,  or 
suffering  malignity  to  interfere  in  an  opposition  steady, 
constant,  and  apparently  conscientious  on  both  sides.' 

"  'And  you,  Mr.  Pleydell,  what  do  you  think  of  their 
points  of  difference  ?  ' 

"  '  Why,  I  hope,  Colonel,  a  plain  man  may  go  to 
heaven  without  thinking  about  them  at  all ;  besides, 
inter  nos,  I  am  a  member  of  the  suffering  and  Epis- 
copal Church  of  Scotland — the  shadow  of  a  shade 
now,  and  fortunately  so  ;  but  I  love  to  pray  where  my 
fathers  prayed  before  me,  without  thinking  worse  of 
the  Presbyterian  forms  because  they  do  not  affect  me 
with  the  same  associations.'  " 

Here  he  is  fair  to  the  character  of  Erskine  ;  and  it 
may  be  said,  generally  speaking,  he  deals  fairly  with 
the  clerical  character  throughout  the  series.  None 
393 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

of  Scott's  ministers  are  villains  in  disguise,  or  immoral 
men,  or  sneaking  sycophants,  or  hypocrites,  or  any- 
thing approaching  thereto.  In  the  main  they  are  all 
honourable  men,  no  matter  their  weaknesses  and 
failings.  Scott  followed  Goldsmith  and  Fielding  in 
depicting  the  average  clergyman  of  his  day.  In  the 
Vicar  of  Wakefield,  Dr.  Primrose  is  said  to  be  rich  in 
heavenly  wisdom,  but  poor,  indeed,  in  all  worldly 
knowledge ;  amiable,  charitable,  devout — a  pious, 
good  man  :  and  in  Fielding's  Joseph  Andrews,  Parson 
Adams  is,  according  to  Scott  himself,  one  of  the  rich- 
est productions  of  the  muse  of  fiction.  It  is  divines  of 
this  school  whom  Scott  introduces  into  his  romances. 
He  steers  clear  of  a  tendency  common  to  Dickens  and 
Thackeray  to  make  the  preachers  of  the  gospel  some- 
what contemptible  and  unworthy  creatures.  Scott 
does  not  place  his  clerical  characters  upon  a  pinnacle 
height,  making  heroes  of  them  and  pushing  them  to 
the  front  in  the  evolution  of  his  story.  But  they 
are  mostly  men  of  attractive  personality,  and  with 
probably  two  exceptions  there  is  nothing  repellent 
about  them.  In  Waverley,  the  parish  minister  of 
Cairnvreckan,  Mr.  Morton  (Scott's  ideal  of  a  divine), 
preached  and  believed  in  practical  religion.  His  creed 
may  be  summed  up  in  his  words  to  Waverley,  "  Evil 
to  him  that  thinks  otherwise,  or  who  holds  church 
government  and  ceremonies  as  the  exclusive  gauge  of 
Christian  faith  or  moral  virtue." 

In  Guy  Mannering  the  immortal  Dominie  is  an  in- 
comparable figure.    He  never  had  a  kirk  of  his  own 

394 


SCOTT'S  CLERICAL  CHARACTERS 

(as  we  have  seen),  but  the  singleness  of  his  motives 
and  the  supreme  candour  of  the  man  are  exquisite. 
He  was  a  dungeon  of  learning,  too.  The  incident  in 
which  he  goes  off  his  road  to  argue  with  the  Moffat 
schoolmaster  as  to  a  quantity  in  one  of  Horace's  Odes, 
is  one  of  Sir  Walter's  most  illuminating  asides.  Samp- 
son's account  of  what  he  had  done  as  Lucy's  tutor, 
and  his  pride  in  his  pupil,  are  admirable  :  "  By  my 
poor  aid  you  will  find  her  perfect  in  the  tongues  of 
France  and  Italy  and  even  of  Spain — in  reading  and 
writing  her  vernacular  tongue,  and  in  arithmetic  and 
book-keeping  by  double  and  single  entry.  I  say  no- 
thing of  her  talents  of  shaping,  and  hemming,  and 
governing  a  household,  which,  to  give  every  one  their 
due,  she  acquired,  not  from  me,  but  from  the  house- 
keeper. Nor  do  I  take  merit  for  her  performance  upon 
stringed  instruments." 

Mr.  Blattergowl  in  The  Antiquary,  who  had  been 
Moderator  of  Assembly,  a  portly  gentleman  equipped 
in  a  buzz-wig,  upon  the  top  of  which  was  an  equi- 
lateral cocked  hat,  was  a  good  man,  in  the  old  Scottish 
Presbyterian  phrase,  Godward  and  manward.  "  No 
divine  was  more  attentive  in  visiting  the  sick  and 
afflicted,  in  catechising  the  youth,  or  instructing  the 
ignorant,  and  in  reproving  the  erring." 

In  The  Heart  of  Midlothian,  Reuben  Butler  passed 
through  his  college  careerwith  a  considerable  struggle. 
He  had  a  weak  constitution  and  was  a  little  lame 
(was  Scott  thinking  of  himself  ?).  He  had  to  wait  a 
long  time  for  promotion,  which  only  came  through  the 
395 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

good  offices  of  the  Argyll  family,  after  he  had  suffer- 
ed many  hardships  and  privations,  including  a  brief 
but  humiliating  imprisonment,  the  result  of  his  hav- 
ing been  forced  by  the  rioters  to  administer  the  last 
consolations  to  the  doomed  Porteous.  Butler  was  a 
character  in  which  worth  and  good  sense  and  sim- 
plicity were  the  principal  ingredients.  When  offered  a 
living  in  England  at  twelve  hundred  a  year,  he  makes 
this  reply  to  Sir  George  Staunton  :  "  I  could  not  accept 
it.  I  have  no  mind  to  enter  into  a  debate  between  the 
churches,  but  I  was  brought  up  in  mine  own,  have  re- 
ceived her  ordination,  am  satisfied  of  the  truth  of  her 
doctrines,  and  will  die  under  the  banner  I  have  en- 
listed to."  "  What  may  be  the  value  of  your  prefer- 
ment," inquired  Sir  George,  "  unless  I  am  asking  an 
indiscreet  question  ?  "  "  Probably  a  hundred  a  year, 
one  year  with  another,  besides  my  glebe  and  pasture 
land."  "  And  you  scruple  to  exchange  that  for 
twelve  hundred  a  year  without  alleging  any  damning 
difference  of  doctrine  betwixt  the  two  churches  of 
England  and  Scotland."  "  On  that,  sir,  I  have  re- 
served my  judgment.  There  may  be  much  good  and 
certainly  saving  means  in  both,  but  every  man  must 
act  according  to  his  lights.  I  hope  I  have  done,  and 
am  in  the  course  of  doing,  my  Master's  work  in  this 
Highland  parish  :  and  it  would  ill  become  me  for  the 
sake  of  lucre  to  leave  my  sheep  in  the  wilderness." 
Excellently  spoken,  and  typical  of  the  man  who  seems 
to  carry  the  fortunes  of  the  story  in  his  hand  ! 

In  The  Bride  of  Lammcrmoor ,  the  Reverend  Peter 

396 


SCOTT'S  CLERICAL  CHARACTERS 

Bide-the-Bent,  the  minister  whose  aid  Lady  Ashton 
invoked  to  assist  her  in  dissolving  the  engagement 
between  Ravenswood  and  Lucy,  is  of  the  strictest 
order  and  the  most  rigid  orthodoxy ;  but  with  all 
the  more  severe  prejudice  and  principles  of  his  sect 
he  possessed  a  sound  judgment  and  had  learned  sym- 
pathy even  in  that  very  school  of  persecution  where 
the  heart  is  so  frequently  hardened. 

The  Rev.  Josiah  Cargill  in  St.  Ronan's  Well  is  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  of  Scott's  portraits,  a  man  of 
singularly  sweet  disposition,  with  bright,  soft,  ex- 
pressive eyes.  His  love-story  accounts  to  a  great 
extent  for  his  hermit  life  and  his  utter  absent- 
mindedness.  In  him  Scott  has  painted  the  best  type 
of  the  Scottish  rural  pastor  of  the  olden  time.  He  is 
a  man  of  taste  and  refinement,  scrupulous  as  to  his 
person,  though  careless  as  to  his  dress,  and  absolutely 
conscientious  in  the  discharge  of  his  public  duties. 
He  is  not  afraid  to  speak  boldly  on  occasion  and  to 
reprove  irreverence,  as  witness  his  interviews  with 
Touchwood  and  the  gossipy  Lady  Penelope  Pen- 
feather  (whom  he  mistakes  for  Clara  Mowbray)  and 
the  false  Earl  of  Etherington,  Lady  Binks's  acknow- 
ledged gallant.  Cargill  was  a  good  pulpiteer,  and 
had  long  won  the  love  of  his  little  flock.  He  might 
at  times  preach  over  the  heads  of  his  people  (as  Tho- 
mas Boston  did  once  a  year)  ;  "  but  what  of  that,  as 
I  am  aye  telling  them,"  said  the  indomitable  Meg 
Dods,  "  them  that  pay  stipend  get  the  mair  for  their 
siller  !  " 
397 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

In  The  Highland  Widow,  the  Rev.  Michael  Tyrie  is 
a  pleasing  specimen  of  the  parish  clergyman — a  kind 
and  faithful  friend  to  Elspat  MacTavish  and  her  son. 

The  Rev.  Nehemiah  Solsgrace,  in  Peveril  of  the 
Peak,  an  ejected  Presbyterian  divine,  who  appears 
only  a  few  times,  is  characterised  as  a  good  but  illiber- 
alman,  and  the  Rev.  Nehemiah  Holdenough,  of  Wood- 
stock, combined  with  his  kind-heartedness  and  courage 
a  temperament  somewhat  irascible  and  disputatious. 

To  return  to  the  clerical  characters  in  Old  Mortality. 
They  are  four  in  number — Gabriel  Kettledrummle, 
Peter  Poundtext,  Ephraim  Macbriar,  and  Habakkuk 
Mucklewrath.  Ugly  names,  and  admittedly  sugges- 
tive of  an  attempt  to  besmirch  the  memory  of  men 
who  (spite  of  all  their  faults)  were  singularly  in  earn- 
est, and  magnificently  heroic.  Scott  had  no  such  in- 
tention. It  is  inconceivable  that  this  big-hearted, 
high-minded,  always  generous  Scotsman  could  have 
employed  his  pen  with  so  ignoble  an  object.  Dr. 
M'Crie  believed  that  he  did,  and  fell  virulently  foul 
of  the  picture  given  in  Old  Mortality.  He  will  listen 
to  no  word  in  defence  of  his  great  contemporary. 
Knox's  biographer,  it  must  be  allowed,  is  quite  as 
fanatical  in  his  own  way,  as  he  maintains  Scott  to  be 
in  his.  Scott  built  up  his  story,  he  says,  on  prejudice, 
on  a  determined  aversion  to  the  Hill-men,  on  a  narrow 
distorted  view  of  their  whole  circumstances.  He  wrote 
from  the  standpoint  of  a  convinced  prelatic.  He  could 
see  no  good  in  the  "  beastly  Covenanters,"  hence  his 

tirade.  But  what  are  the  facts?  No  one  nowadays  will 

398 


SCOTT'S  CLERICAL  CHARACTERS 

deny  that  the  Covenanters  (good  men  though  they 
were)  in  many  respects  were  misguided  men  and  them- 
selves guilty  of  gross  exaggerations.  They  magnified 
many  times  the  differences  which  separated  them  from 
their  opponents.  They  clung  to  the  notion  that  there 
was  only  one  true  Cause,  and  they  held  that  all  who 
were  outside  that  Cause  were  traitors  and  on  their  way 
to  perdition.  That  they  were  bigoted,  selfish,  fanatical, 
revengeful,  seems  to  be  the  reading  of  history.  And  it 
was  this  one-sided  and  rancorous  element  which  Scott 
put  in  the  pillory.  He  caricatured  Covenanting  man- 
ners, but  not  the  men  themselves.  Scott  would  be  the 
first  to  admit  that  in  most  of  the  Christian  virtues, 
prayer  fulness,  diligent  study  of  the  Scriptures,  self- 
control,  the  men  of  the  Covenant  were  a  long  way 
ahead  of  their  antagonists.  Even  Kettledrummle, 
that  contumacious  thunderer,  and  the  wild  and  mani- 
acal Mucklewrath  are  characteristically  better  men 
than  the  profligate  Sergeant  Bothwell  or  the  scape- 
grace Tarn  Halliday,  both  of  whom  fought  on  the 
side  of  Charles.  The  period  was  such  as  to  produce 
enthusiasts.  The  situation  was  desperate,  and  both 
parties  went  to  extremes.  It  was  in  the  very  nature 
of  the  Covenanters  to  behave  as  they  did,  faced  by 
wrongs  and  oppressions  which  they  believed  were 
remedial,  but  persistence  in  which  burned  into  their 
breasts,  rousing  within  them  the  bitterest  resentment, 
and  obsessing  them  with  the  idea  that,  like  the  Children 
of  Israel,  they  were  under  a  divine  mandate  to  extir- 
pate, root  and  branch,  from  the  land  whatsoever,  ac- 
399 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

cording  to  their  fancy,  savoured  of  anti-Christ,  what- 
soever was  derogatory  to  that  true-blue  faith  for  which 
they  had  sworn  to  shed  their  last  drop  of  blood.    It 
must  be  confessed  that  Scott  did  paint  a  rather  lurid 
picture   in  the  fiendish  Mucklewrath.   But  such  a 
being  as  Habakkuk  Mucklewrath  never  existed,  or  if 
he  did,  his  mental  balance  had  become  unhinged 
under  the  terrible  strain.  Kettledrummle  is  a  clumsy 
caricature  of  the  more  rigid  divine.  About  Poundtext 
there  was  much  of  the  man  of  the  world.   "  Warfare 
had  little  charm  for  him  in  comparison  with  a  theo- 
logical treatise  or  pipe  and  a  jug  of  ale  which  he  called 
his  studies."   Macbriar  is  far  the  most  natural  of  the 
group  and  was  probably  modelled  (as  said  elsewhere) 
from  Hugh  M'Kail,  whom  he   closely  resembles  in 
his  youth,  his  eloquence,  his  ardour,  his  renunciation 
of  the  Stuarts,  his  claim  to  the  right  of  defensive 
arms,  and,  finally,  in  his  exultant  death.    In  actual 
men  of  the  Covenant,  heroes  and  martyrs  such  as 
Alexander  Peden,  Richard  Cameron,  Donald  Cargill, 
James  Renwick,  and  others,  Scott  had  historical  data 
of  the  best  sort  lying  to  his  hand  which  he  might 
have  devoted  to  the  noblest  ends.  He  did,  however, 
make  some  atonement  for  what  have  been  called 
the  "  excrescences  "  of  Old  Mortality  when  lie  wrote 
The  Heart  of  Midlothian.    There  the   all-pervading 
character  is  that  most  winsome  of  the  daughters  of 
the    Covenant,   true-hearted    Jeanie    Deans.    And, 
later,  in  the  Tales  of  a  Grandfather,  Scott  is  con- 
spicuously fair  in  his  treatment  of  the  Covenanters — 

400 


SCOTT'S  CLERICAL  CHARACTERS 

those  men  of  the  moss-hags  and  the  rough  corries  of 
the  south  country,  of  whom,  despite  all  cavilling  and 
criticism,  it  must  unhesitatingly  be  said  that  they 
sealed  Freedom's  Sacred  Cause. 

To  sum  up  :  there  is  very  little  in  Scott's  work  to 
throw  discredit  on  Presbyterianism  or  ministers  of 
that  persuasion.  Scott,  as  we  have  seen,  favoured 
the  Episcopal  mode  of  worship.  "  He  took  up  early 
in  life,"  says  Lockhart,  "  a  repugnance  to  the  method 
in  which  public  worship  is  conducted  in  the  Scottish 
Establishment  andadhered  to  the  sister  church,  whose 
system  of  government  and  discipline  he  believed  to  be 
the  fairest  copy  of  the  primitive  quality,  and  whose  lit- 
anies and  collects  he  reverenced  as  having  been  trans- 
mitted to  us  from  the  age  immediately  succeeding 
that  of  the  apostles."  Snatches  of  the  Te  Deum  and 
the  Dies  Irce  were  repeated  amid  the  delirium  of  the 
death-bed,  and  on  his  funeral  day  ministers  of  the 
Church  of  Scotland  conducted  a  service  at  Abbotsford, 
while  the  beautiful  burial  service  of  the  Church  of 
England  was  said  at  the  grave  by  one  of  his  oldest 
friends.  Religion  comforted  Sir  Walter  at  the  last. 
For  him  there  was  only  "one  Book,"  out  of  which  Lock- 
hart  read  the  message  of  the  eternal  hope.  There  is 
not  one  of  his  own  books  which  does  not  bear  in  some 
aspect  of  it  genuine  testimony  to  the  moral  and  re- 
ligious convictions  of  its  author.  The  passage  has 
often  been  quoted  in  which  it  is  said  that  he  never 
wrote  a  line  that  could  have  embittered  the  bed  of 
death.  "  His  works  teach  the  practical  lessons  of 
401  2  c 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

morality  and  Christianity  in  the  most  captivating 
form — unobtrusively  and  unaffectedly."  "  The  few 
passages  in  his  Diaries  in  which  he  alludes  to  his  own 
religious  feelings  and  practices,  show  clearly  the  sober, 
serene,  and  devoted  frame  of  mind  in  which  he  habitu- 
ally contemplated  man's  relations  with  his  Maker : 
the  modesty  with  which  he  shrank  from  indulging 
either  the  presumption  of  reason  or  the  extravagance 
of  imagination  in  the  province  of  Faith  :  his  humble 
reliance  on  the  wisdom  and  mercy  of  God  :  and  his 
firm  belief  that  we  are  placed  in  this  state  of  exist- 
ence, not  to  speculate  about  another,  but  to  prepare 
ourselves  for  it  by  actual  exertion  of  our  intellectual 
faculties  and  the  constant  cultivation  of  kindness 
and  benevolence  towards  our  fellow-men." 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX 

Trial  of  Helen  Walker,  the  Original  of  "  Jeanie 
Deans  "  (now  first  published). 

CURIA  ITINERIS  JUSTICIARII  S.D.N, 
Regis  tenta  in  Praetorio  Burgi  de  Dumfreis  Se- 
cundo  die  mensis  maii  anno  domini  1737  per  hono- 
rabilem  vlrum  alexandrum  fraser  de  strichen 
Armigerum  Unum  dominorum  Commissionariorum 
Justiciarii  Dict  S.D.N.  Regis. 

Curia  Legitime  Affirmata. 
Present — The  Sherriff  Depute  of  Dumfreis  The 
Stewart  Depute  of  Annandale  The  Stewart  Depute 

OF  KlRKUDBRIGHT. 

Intran  Isobel  Walker,  daughter  to  the  deceast  Wil- 
liam Walker  in  Clouden  now  Prisoner  in  the  tolbooth 
of  Dumfreis  Indicted  and  accused  at  the  instance  of 
Duncan  Forbes  of  Culloden  Esqr.  his  Majesties  Ad- 
vocate for  his  Highness  Interest  as  guilty  actor  art 
and  part  of  the  unnaturall  and  detestable  crime  of 
Murder  and  paricide  upon  the  body  of  her  own  child 
in  manner  mentioned  in  her  indictment  in  the  porte- 
ous  roll  for  the  Shire  of  Dumfreis,  Pannell. 
Mr.  Hugh  Forbes,  Advocate  Prors.  in  Defence — 

Depute  for  the  interest  of  the         Mr.    James     Fergus- 
Crown.  son,  Younger  of  Craig  - 

darroch,  Advocate. 
Fergusson  objected  agt  any  procedure  in  this  tryall  in 
regard  that  by  the  82d  Act  pari :  nth  of  James  the 
6th  Intitled  of  the  forme  how  Justiceairs  shall  be 
holden  twice  every  year  in  the  months  of  Aprile  and 
October  it  appears  that  two  Lords  of  Session  Advo- 
cats  or  other  proper  persons  appointed  under  the 
Great  Seall  were  to  go  to  each  Division  or  District 
And  therefrom  it  would  appear  that  two  of  them 
were  a  necessary  quorum  And  more  particularly 
405 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

from  the  Act  1672  concerning  the  Regulation  of  the 
Judicatories  in  the  fifth  clause  concerning  the  Justice 
Court  it  is  expressly  Ordained  that  once  a  year  in  the 
months  of  Aprile  or  May  two  of  the  number  of  the 
Judges  are  appointed  to  keep  Circuit  Courts  att  Dum- 
freis  and  Jedburgh  two  at  Stirling  Glasgow  and  Air 
and  other  two  at  the  Towns  of  Perth  Aberdeen  and 
Inverness  and  therefore  that  as  His  Lordship  is  here 
a  single  Judge  he  with  great  deference  apprehends  he 
cannot  competently  proceed  in  this  tryall. 

Advocatus  Answered  that  the  objectiom  made  to  the 
competency  of  the  Court  in  regard  that  his  Lordship 
is  only  a  single  Judge  appears  very  naturally  to  arise 
from  the  express  words  of  the  Acts  mentioned  by  the 
Objector  particularly  from  the  Statute  1672  But 
that  it  is  notour  from  many  instances  where  single 
Judges  have  tryed  at  their  Circuit  Courts  crimes  of 
all  sorts  even  capitall  crimes  and  that  this  practice 
was  sufficient  to  authorise  His  Lordship  to  proceed  in 
this  tryall  but  nevertheless  in  case  any  scruple  re- 
mained if  his  Lordship  thought  it  proper  to  remitt 
the  tryall  of  these  crimes  to  the  Justiciary  Court  att 
Edinburgh  he  would  not  oppose  it. 

The  Lord  Strichen  Before  answer  to  the  above  De- 
bate Remitts  the  Indictment  agt  the  said  Isobel  Walker 
Pannell  to  be  tryed  before  the  Lords  of  Justiciary  at 
Edinburgh  the  twenty  first  day  of  June  next  and  for  that 
effect  Grants  Warrand  to  and  Ordains  the  Sherriff  De- 
pute of  Dumfreis  to  transport  the  said  Isobel  Walker 
from  the  tolbooth  of  Dumfreis  upon  the  twenty  fifth  day 
of  May  current  under  a  sure  guard  to  the  Stewarty  of 
Annandale  and  deliver  her  to  the  Stewart  Depute  thereof 
who  is  hereby  required  and  ordained  to  transport  her  un- 
der a  sure  guard  to  the  Shire  of  Peebles  and  deliver  her  to 
the  Sherriff  Depute  yrof  Who  is  hereby  required  and  Or- 

406 


APPENDIX 

dained  to  transport  her  under  a  sure  guard  to  the  Shire  of 
Midlothian  and  deliver  her  to  the  Sherriffe  Depute  yrof 
who  is  hereby  required  and  ordained  to  imprison  her  with- 
in the  tolbooth  of  Edinr  The  Magistrates  whereof  and 
keepers  of  their  tolbooth  are  hereby  required  and  ordain- 
ed to  keep  and  detain  her  prisoner  therein  untill  she  be 
thence  liberate  in  due  course  of  law. 

"  Alexr.  Fraser." 

Note. — The  High  Court  Record  contains  no  entry  of 
date  21  June  1737. 

Among  the  papers  in  the  case  is  a  petition  of  date  13th 
June  1737  by  Isobel  Walker  designed  prisoner  in  the  Tol- 
booth of  Edinburgh  praying  for  banishment — with  de- 
liverance of  same  date  by  the  Lord  Justice  Clerk,  I.P.D., 
ordaining  same  to  be  seen  and  answered  by  His  Majesty's 
Advocat  or  his  Deputs  betwixt  and  Wednesday  next.  An- 
swers were  lodged  containing  a  short  abstract  of  the 
Crown  precognition  "  submitting  to  the  Court  whether  the 
"  desire  of  the  Petition  ought  to  be  granted  or  not."  No 
farther  Deliverance. — Isobel  Walker's  Petition  is  signed 
by  two  Notaries,  she  not  being  able  to  write.  There  is  a- 
mong  the  papers  in  the  case  another  Petition,  dated  1  May 
1738  by  Isobel  Walker  praying  to  be  transported  beyond 
seas  never  to  return  (signed  by  Notaries)  but  there  is  no 
consent  by  A.D.  or  deliverance  or  any  marking  thereon. 

CURIA  ITINERIS  JUSTICIARII  S.D.N. 
Regis  tenta  in  praetorio  Burgi  de  Dum- 
freis  primo  die  mai  anno  domini  mil- 
lesimo  septingentesimo  trigesimo  octa- 
vo per  honorabiles  viros  dominum 
Jacobum  McKenzie  de  Royston  et  Ma- 
gistrum  patricium  grant  de  elchies 
Dominos  Commission arios  Justiciarii 
dict  S.D.N.  Regis. 
407 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

Curia  Legitime  Affirmata. 

Present — The  Sherriff  Depute  of  Dumfreis  The 
Stewart  Depute  of  Annandale  The  Stewart  Depute 
of  Kirkudbright. 

Intran  Isobel  Walker  daughter  of  the  deceast  William 
Walker  in  Cluden  within  the  Paroch  of  Irongray  and 
Stewarty  of  Kirkudbright  now  prisoner  within  the 
Tolbooth  of  Dumfreis  Indicted  and  accused  at  the 
instance  of  His  Majesties  Advocate  for  the  crime  of 
murder  and  Paricide  in  manner  mentioned  in  the 
Porteous  Roll  for  the  Shire  of  Dumfreis. 

Pur siier —  Advocats  in  defence — 

Sir  James  Elphinstone,  Mr.  James  Fergusson. 

Advocate- Depute  Mr.  James  Geddes. 

Geddes  for  the  Pannell  objected  That  as  to  the  Lybell 
so  far  as  it  relates  to  the  actual  murder  He  had  noth- 
ing to  object  against  the  relevancy  for  surely  if  the 
Pannell  is  guilty  of  that  horride  crime  of  murdering 
her  own  child  she  well  deserves  the  highest  punish- 
ment to  be  inflicted  upon  her  But  if  the  relevancy  is 
also  to  be  founded  on  the  presumptive  murder  he 
humbly  conceives  that  the  Statute  upon  which  that 
presumption  is  founded  should  have  been  libelled 
particularly  And  besides  the  facts  lybelled  against 
the  Pannell  are  not  so  specially  lybelled  as  to  make 
her  fall  within  the  presumption  of  the  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment The  Act  says  that  concealing  being  with  child 
during  the  whole  space  presumes  murder  Now  it  is 
neither  said  that  the  child  found  was  a  child  come  to 
the  full  time  nor  that  when  the  Pannell  was  inspect- 
ed were  there  the  signs  such  as  women  have  who 
bring  forth  children  to  the  full  time. 

Sir  James  Elphinston  for  the  Crown  answered  that 
there  is  no  occasion  for  lybelling  the  Statute  for  if  the 

408 


APPENDIX 

facts  charged  against  the  Pannell  are  sufficient  to  in- 
fer the  conclusion  of  the  Lybell  the  law  or  Statute 
upon  which  that  conclusion  is  founded  is  left  to  the 
Judge  who  is  presumed  to  know  the  law   And  as  to 
the  other  point  pled  for  the  pannell  he  humbly  sub- 
mitts  if  it  is  not  sufficient  in  generall  to  lybell  that 
the  pannell  concealed  her  being  with  child  during  the 
whole  space. 
The  Lords  Commissioners  of  Justiciary  having  consid- 
ered the  Indictment  raised  at  the  instance  of  Charles  Ere- 
skine  of  Tinwald  Esqr.  His  Majesties  Advocat  against 
Isobel  Walker  Pannell  with  the  above  debate  thereupon 
Find  that  the  pannell  having  time  and  place  lybelled 
brought  furth  a  child  and  murdered  the  same  relevent  to 
infer  the  pain  of  death  and  confiscation  of  moveables,  and 
find  it  Separatim  relevent  to  infer  the  like  pains  that  the 
pannell  time  and  place  foresaid  did  bring  forth  a  child 
which  was  thereafter  found  dead  or  amissing  and  not 
found  and  that  the  pannell  during  the  whole  time  of  her 
pregnancy  did  conceal  her  being  with  child  and  did  not 
call  for  help  and  assistance  in  the  time  of  the  birth  But 
sustain  it  relevent  to  eleide  the  branch  of  the  Lybell  last 
above  mentioned  that  the  pannell  revealed  her  being  with 
child  or  called  for  help  the  time  of  the  birth  and  Allow  also 
the  pannell  to  prove  that  the  child  was  born  before  the 
usuall  time  and  repell  the  haill  other  defences  proponed 
for  the  pannell   And  remit  her  and  the  Indictment  as 
found  relevent  and  her  said  defences  hereby  admitted  to 
proof  to  the  knowledge  of  an  Assize. 
"  Ja.  Mackenzie." 
"  P.  Grant." 

Then  the  Lords  proceeded  to  make  choice  of  the  follow- 
ing persons  to  pass  upon  the  pannells  assize  : — 

Adam  Johnston  of  Craigielands 
.  Robert  Henderson  late  Bailie  in  Lochmaben 
409 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

John  Carruthers  of  Denbigh 
Willm  Carruthers  of  Braes 
John  Irving  of  Whitehill 
William  Johnstone  yr  of  Lockerbie 
Andrew  Johnstone  of  Damm 
Samuel  Johnston  of  Broadmeadows 
John  Johnston  of  Banks 
Francis  Carruthers  of  Whitecroft 
William  Carruthers  of  Hardriggs 
Robert  Herris  Merchant  in  Dumfreis 
Archd.  Malcolm  Writer  in  Dumfreis 
James  Maxwell  of  Elchieshiells 
John  Rae  Merchant  in  Dumfreis 

The  assize  being  lawfully  sworn  and  no  objections  in  the 
contrary  the  following  witnesses  were  adduced  for  the 
Pursuer  Compeared  Elspeth  Ferguson  relict  of  William 
Welsh  in  Wigston  aged  sixty  or  yrby  who  being  solemnly 
sworn,  purged  of  malice  Examined  and  Interrogate  De- 
pones that  she  was  desired  by  one  of  the  Elders  to  go  and 
visit  the  pannell  as  a  person  who  was  suspected  to  have 
born  a  child  That  accordingly  she  went  and  after  proper 
inspection  and  examination  found  her  in  such  a  condition 
as  a  woman  lately  brought  to  bed  should  be  By  various 
simptoms  she  judged  that  she  had  born  a  child  to  the  full 
time  That  this  was  about  Hallowmass  was  a  year  Depones 
that  at  that  same  time  she  saw  a  dead  child  lying  upon  the 
pannells  knee  which  had  been  brought  from  Holywood 
That  the  said  child  appeared  to  be  a  ripe  child  and  come 
to  the  full  time  both  by  its  size  colour  and  that  it  had 
nails  by  which  it  appeared  to  be  so  But  she  heard  the 
pannell  say  that  the  child  was  none  of  hers  That  she  had 
thrown  the  child  which  she  had  born  into  the  Water  of 
Cluden  and  that  it  was  not  a  ripe  child  Depones  that  when 
she  saw  the  child  it  had  a  napkine  tyed  strait  about  its 
neck  with  several  knots  upon  it  and  the  child  was  naked 

410 


APPENDIX 

And  this  is  truth  as  she  shall  answer  to  God  And  depones 
she  cannot  write.  Causa  scientia  the  Deponent  is  a  mid- 
wife and  saw  what  she  depones. 

"  Ja.  Mackenzie." 

Compeared  Jean  Johnsone  relict  of  James  Walker  in 
Cluden  aged  sixty  six  or  thereby  sworn  and  interrogate  as 
above  Depones  That  sometime  before  Martinmas  was  a 
year  the  pannell  having  been  suspected  to  have  born  a 
child  she  the  deponent  went  to  visit  her  and  that  it  ap- 
peared to  her  she  was  latly  brought  to  bed  but  whether  the 
child  was  come  to  the  full  time  she  does  not  know  there 
was  such  confusion  in  the  room  That  she  then  saw  a  dead 
child  lying  on  the  pannells  knee  that  it  was  almost  naked 
and  had  a  cloath  tyed  about  its  neck  which  child  seemed 
to  be  corned  to  the  full  time  and  that  the  pannell  denyed 
it  was  hers  and  said  that  the  child  that  she  had  born  was 
not  bigger  than  her  two  fists  and  that  she  had  thrown  it 
into  the  Water  of  Cluden  and  that  Elspeth  Ferguson  the 
preceding  witness  was  present  at  the  same  time  Causa  sci- 
entia tho  she's  not  a  midwife  by  trade  yet  she  sometimes 
assists  in  bringing  women  to  bed  and  saw  as  she  depones 
And  this  is  truth  as  she  shall  answer  to  God  and  depones 

she  cannot  write. 

"  Ja.  Mackenzie." 

Compeared  Jean  Alexander  daughter  to  James  Alex- 
ander in  Cluden  aged  twenty  two  years  or  yrby  unmar- 
ried, who  being  solemnly  sworn  purged  of  malice  examin- 
ed and  interrogate  Depones  That  upon  a  Sabath  day 
about  eight  days  before  Hallowmass  in  the  year  imvii 
thirty  six  the  deponent  went  to  the  pannells  mothers 
house  in  the  town  of  Cluden  where  the  deponent  found  the 
pannel  and  her  mother  That  soon  after  the  deponents 
coming  into  the  house  the  pannel  retired  to  the  other  end 
of  the  house  which  was  separated  from  the  place  where  her 
mother  and  the  deponent  was  by  a  thin  wattle  wall  That 
411 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

the  deponent  stayed  thereafter  in  the  house  for  the  space 
of  an  hour  dureing  which  time  the  pannel  did  not  again 
return  and  then  it  being  near  sun  setting  the  deponent 
went  away  That  dureing  the  deponents  stay  in  the  house 
and  likewise  in  her  goeing  out  of  the  house  she  heard  a 
person  moaning  in  the  other  end  of  the  house  which  she 
knew  to  be  the  pannel  not  only  by  the  voice  but  likewise 
because  she  knew  there  was  no  other  person  in  the  house 
That  the  deponent  had  then  no  suspicion  of  the  pannels 
being  with  child  or  of  her  being  about  to  be  delivered 
otherwise  she  would  have  called  for  assistance  But  a  very 
few  days  thereafter  some  other  people  in  the  same  town 
suspected  the  pannel's  having  brought  forth  a  child  and 
therefore  upon  the  Thursday  of  the  same  week  the  two 
preceeding  witnesses  and  some  others  went  to  inspect  the 
pannel  and  the  deponent  went  at  the  same  time  and  upon 
the  inspection  the  deponent  as  well  as  the  other  women 
present  were  of  opinion  that  the  pannel  had  lately  brought 
forth  a  child  That  about  the  same  time  that  the  pannel 
was  inspected  as  above  a  dead  child  was  found  in  the 
Water  of  Cluden  at  a  very  little  distance  below  the  town 
That  the  deponent  was  not  present  when  the  child  was 
found  but  saw  it  in  about  ane  hour  and  a  half  thereafter 
at  which  time  the  child  was  naked  but  had  a  rag  of  a  nap- 
kin striped  blew  and  white  tyed  very  strait  about  its 
neck  with  three  severall  knots  That  the  deponent  thought 
she  knew  the  napkine  and  could  go  far  to  be  positive 
that  about  a  month  before  she  had  seen  the  very  same 
napkine  about  the  pannels  neck  and  she  knew  the  nap- 
kine the  better  not  only  for  the  colour  but  likewise  be- 
cause a  rag  had  been  tore  off  from  it  That  the  child  so 
found  had  all  the  usual  simptoms  of  a  ripe  child  that  had 
been  born  at  the  full  time  Depones  that  the  said  child  was 
brought  to  the  pannels  mothers  house  and  shown  to  the 
pannel  and  that  the  Deponent  heard  the  pannel  own  her 
having  brought  forth  a  child  but  said  that  that  was  not 

412 


APPENDIX 

her  child  because  her  child  was  a  female  and  not  the  big- 
ness of  her  two  fists  whereas  the  child  found  was  a  male 
and  fully  ripe  and  Depones  that  the  pannel  own'd  that  she 
had  told  nobody  of  her  being  with  child  Causa  scientia  the 
deponent  lived  at  the  time  foresaid  in  the  same  town  with 
the  pannel  vizt.  the  town  of  Cluden  and  saw  and  heard  as 
she  depones  And  this  is  the  truth  as  she  shall  answer  to 
God  and  depones  she  cannot  write. 

"  P.  Grant." 

Compeared  Emelia  Walker  spouse  to  Samuel  Walker  in 
Cluden  aged  fourty  three  years  or  thereby  solemnly  sworn 
purged  and  interrogate  as  above  Depones  that  a  con- 
siderable time  before  Hallowmass  in  the  year  imvii  and 
thirty  six  the  deponent  and  others  in  the  town  of  Cluden 
suspected  the  pannel's  being  with  child  but  the  pannel 
still  denyed  it  However  the  suspicion  still  continuing  the 
deponent  in  conversation  with  one  of  her  neighbours  said 
that  if  they  allowed  her  to  go  on  she  would  beguile  them 
all  and  deny  her  ever  being  with  child  and  therefore  de- 
sired her  said  neighbour  to  send  for  the  deponent  the  first 
time  the  pannel  should  come  to  her  house  That  accord- 
ingly upon  the  Thursday  before  Hallowmass  the  depon- 
ent was  sent  for  and  at  that  time  she  again  remonstrated 
to  the  pannel  the  suspicion  she  lay  under  That  about 
the  same  time  a  dead  child  had  been  found  in  the  Water 
of  Cluden  and  laid  in  Church  That  the  deponent  went 
and  fetched  the  child  from  the  Church  and  brought  it 
where  the  pannel  then  was  in  her  mothers  house  That 
the  said  child  when  the  deponent  saw  it  was  naked  but 
had  a  rag  of  a  blew  and  white  striped  napkin  tyed  about 
its  neck  but  which  as  the  deponent  was  informed  had  been 
loosed  by  the  people  who  had  found  it  before  That  the 
deponent  remembers  she  has  seen  napkins  of  the  same  col- 
lour  about  the  pannels  neck  before  but  cannot  say  that 
they  were  the  same  That  the  child  found  in  the  water 
413 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

was  a  ripe  child  but  when  it  was  shown  to  the  panne]  she 
denyed  that  it  was  her  child  But  at  last  the  pannel  ac- 
knowledged that  she  had  brought  forth  a  child  but  said 
she  knew  that  was  not  her  child  because  hers  was  a  fe- 
male whereas  that  was  a  male  child  That  the  pannel 
said  that  she  had  thrown  it  into  the  Water  of  Cluden  and 
that  it  was  only  of  the  bigness  of  her  two  fists  Causa  sci- 
entia  the  deponent  lived  in  the  same  town  with  the  pan- 
nel and  saw  and  heard  as  she  has  deponed  and  depones  she 
cannot  write  And  this  is  truth  as  she  shall  answer  to  God. 

"  P.  Grant." 

Compeared  John  Stott  in  Cluden  aged  sixty  five  years 
or  thereby  married  solemnly  sworn  purged  and  interro- 
gate as  above  Depones  that  about  a  quarter  of  a  year  be- 
fore the  pannel  was  discovered  to  have  born  a  child  which 
was  some  days  before  Hallowmass  imvii  thirty  six  the  de- 
ponent suspected  that  the  pannel  was  with  child  he  said 
to  several  of  his  neighbours  that  he  would  wager  a  guinea 
of  gold  she  was  with  child  but  the  pannel  threatening  to 
call  him  before  the  Session  for  scandal  denying  she  was 
with  child  whereupon  there  was  no  more  talk  of  it  neither 
by  the  deponent  nor  others  for  some  time  That  two  or 
three  days  before  the  pannel  was  discovered  to  have  born 
a  child  the  deponent  upon  seeing  her  look  pale  and  sickly 
and  small  and  lank  in  the  body  did  then  suspect  she  had 
bore  a  child  and  having  come  to  Dumfreis  upon  his  return 
he  found  she  had  been  apprehended  and  being  viewed  by 
midwives  and  other  women  was  found  to  be  a  woman  who 
was  lately  brought  to  bed  And  dureing  this  time  a  child 
was  found  in  the  water  of  Cluden  dead  a  little  below  the 
town  and  brought  into  the  house  where  the  pannel  lived 
dureing  the  time  the  deponent  was  there  and  being  then 
challenged  if  that  was  her  child  she  said  that  she  had  born 
a  child  but  that  was  not  her's  the  child  born  by  her  being 
no  bigger  than  her  two  fists   That  the  child  found  seemed 

414 


APPENDIX 

to  be  a  ripe  child  and  was  naked  all  except  a  rag  about  the 
neck  which  was  then  loosed  but  that  the  child's  neck  was 
blae  and  seemed  to  be  twisted  by  tying  something  hard 
about  it  Causa  scieniia  he  lives  in  Cluden  where  the  pannel 
dwells  and  heard  and  saw  what  he  depones  And  this  is 
truth  as  he  shall  answer  to  God. 

"  John  Stott." 

"  J  a.  Mackenzie." 

Compeared  William  Johnston  in  nether  Cluden  aged 
forty  two  years  or  thereby  married  who  being  solemnly 
sworn  purged  and  interrogate  as  above  Depones  that  in 
the  end  of  October  imvii  and  thirty  six  years  as  the  de- 
ponent was  walking  from  his  walkmiln  down  the  water  of 
Cluden  a  little  below  the  town  he  discovered  a  dead  child 
on  the  side  of  the  water  but  did  not  touch  it  till  he  called 
some  of  his  neighbours  and  then  they  took  up  the  child 
which  was  a  male  and  seemed  to  be  a  ripe  child  That 
there  was  a  piece  of  an  old  blew  and  white  napkin  tyed 
about  the  child's  neck  with  severall  knots  so  tight  as  pos- 
sibly could  be  done  That  there  was  a  piece  of  a  clout  tyed 
over  the  child's  mouth  and  nose  and  one  of  its  hands  tyed 
up  to  the  side  of  its  head  and  this  cloath  was  so  strait  tyed 
that  the  child's  nose  was  turned  aside  That  this  was  the 
same  day  upon  which  the  pannel  was  found  by  women  to 
have  bore  a  child  but  the  deponent  did  not  see  her  that 
day  Causa  scientia  the  deponent  lives  in  the  neighbour- 
hood with  the  pannel  and  this  is  truth  as  he  shall  answer 

to  God. 

"  William  Johnston." 

"  Ja.  Mackenzie." 

Compeared  William  Crokat  in  Nether  Cluden  aged  sev- 
enty years  or  thereby  married  sollemnly  sworn  purged 
and  interrogate  Depones  that  upon  a  Thursday  being  two 
or  three  days  before  Hallowmass  imvii  and  thirty  six  Wil- 
liam Johnston  the  preceeding  witness  called  the  deponent 
415  ' 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

to  come  and  see  a  dead  child  that  he  had  found  in  the 
water  of  Cluden  and  the  deponent  haveing  called  some 
other  neighbours  they  went  together  and  found  a  male 
child  lyeing  dead  on  a  sand  bank  at  the  side  of  the  water 
and  which  seemed  to  have  been  thrown  out  there  by  the 
water  while  it  was  great  That  the  child  was  quite  naked 
except  some  lining  cloath  tyed  about  the  face  and  a  napkin 
or  rag  tyed  about  the  neck  and  which  the  women  in  com- 
pany did  take  off  That  the  deponent  thinks  the  woman 
who  loosed  it  was  Mary  Haining  Causa  scientia  patct  and 
this  is  truth  as  he  shall  answer  to  God. 

"  William  Crokat." 
"  P.  Grant. 

Compeared  Mary  Haining  spouse  to  John  Crockat  in 
Nether  Cluden  aged  forty  years  or  thereby  solemnly  sworn 
purged  and  interrogate  Depones  that  two  or  three  days 
before  Hallowmass  imvii  and  thirty  six  years  William 
Johnston  a  preceeding  witness  called  the  deponent  and 
others  to  go  to  see  a  dead  child  which  he  had  found  by  the 
water  of  Cluden  Accordingly  the  deponent  went  and 
found  a  male  child  dead  upon  the  sand  bank  close  by  the 
water  which  the  deponent  thought  had  been  thrown  out 
by  the  water  while  it  was  in  flood  the  day  before  That 
the  child  was  quite  naked  except  a  bit  of  harden  rag  tyed 
about  its  face  and  a  napkin  stripped  blew  and  white  tyed 
about  its  neck  with  three  or  four  knots  which  had  been 
tyed  so  ticht  that  the  childs  neck  was  drawn  in  to  the  or- 
dinary bigness  of  a  childs  arm  of  six  years  old  That  the 
deponent  untied  these  knots  but  wraped  the  napkin  loose 
about  the  childs  neck  and  in  that  manner  it  was  carried 
away  to  the  Church  Causa  scientia  patet  and  this  is  truth 
as  she  shall  answer  to  God. 


"  Mary  Haining." 
"  P.  Grant." 


416 


APPENDIX 

The  Lords  Commissioners  of  Justiciary  Ordain  this  As- 
size to  enclose  in  this  place  instantly  and  to  return  their 
verdict  by  their  conveniency  and  the  whole  fifteen  to  be 
present  under  the  pains  of  Law  And  Ordain  the  Pannel  to 
be  carried  back  to  prison. 

Post  meridiem    Lo.  Elchies,  pres. 

CURIA  ITINERIS  JUSTICIARIAE  S.D.N. 
Regis  tenta  in  praetorio  Burgi  de  Dum- 
freis  primo  die  mai  anno  domini  mil- 
lesimo  septingentesimo  trigesimo  oc- 
tavo per  honorabiles  viros  dominum 
Jacobum  Mackenzie  de  Royston  et 
Magistrum  Patricium  Grant  de  Elchies 
Dominos  Commissionarios  Justiciarii 
dict  S.D.N.  Regis. 

Curia  Legitime  Affirmata. 

Intran  Isobel  Walker  indicted  and  accused  as  in  the 
former  Sederunt  The  above  assize  being  called  and 
they  answering  to  their  names  their  Chancelour  gave 
in  the  following  verdict  : 

At  Dumfreis  the  first  day  of  May  imvii  and  thirty 
eight  years  The  above  assize  haveing  enclosed  did 
choose  JohnCarruthersof  Denbigh  to  be  their  Chance- 
lour  and  John  Irving  of  Whitehill  to  be  their  Clerk 
and  haveing  considered  the  Indictment  raised  at  the 
instance  of  Charles  Areskine  of  Tinwald  Esqr.  his 
Majesties  Advocate  for  his  Highness  interest  against 
Isobel  Walker  pannell  and  the  Lords  Commissioners 
of  Justiciary  their  Interloqr  yron  with  the  deposi- 
tions of  the  witnesses  adduced  for  proveing  yrof  They 
all  in  one  voice  find  it  proven  that  the  pannel  Isobel 
Walker  time  and  place  lybelled  did  bring  forth  a 
child  which  was  thereafter  found  dead  or  amissing 
417  2  D 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

and  not  found  And  that  the  said  pannel  dureing  the 
whole  time  of  her  pregnancy  did  conceal  her  being 
with  child  and  did  not  call  for  help  and  assistance  in 
the  time  of  the  birth  In  Witness  Whereof  our  said 
Chancelour  and  Clerk  have  subscribed  these  presents 
for  us  and  in  our  names  place  and  date  f  orsaid .  (Signed) 
John  Carruthers,  Chancelour.  John  Irving,  Clerk. 

The  Lords  Commissioners  of  Justiciary  haveing  con- 
sidered the  above  verdict  of  Assize  returned  against  Isobel 
Walker  pannel  They  in  respect  thereof  Decern  and  Ad- 
judge by  the  mouth  of  David  Bane  Dempster  of  Court 
the  said  Isobel  Walker  to  be  taken  upon  Wednesday  the 
fourteenth  day  of  June  next  to  come  from  the  prison  of 
Dumfreis  to  the  ordinary  place  of  execution  and  there  be- 
twixt the  hours  of  three  and  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon 
to  be  hanged  by  the  neck  upon  a  gibbet  untill  she  be  dead 
And  Ordain  her  whole  moveable  goods  and  gear  to  be  es- 
cheat to  his  Majestie  which  is  pronounced  for  Dome  And 
Ordain  the  Magistrates  of  Dumfreis  to  see  the  sentence 
put  in  execution  And  in  the  meantime  Ordain  her  to  be 
detained  in  sure  prison. 

"  P.  Grant." 

"  Ja.  Mackenzie." 

NOTES. 

i.  Books  of  Adjournal  of  12  June  1738  contain  Respite 
for  two  months,  viz. :— until  15th  August,  as  fol- 
lows : — 

CURIA  JUSTICIARIAE  S.D.N.  REGIS  TEN- 
TA  in  Praetorio  Burgi  de  Edinburgo, 

DUO  DECIMO  DIE  MENSIS  JUNII  1738  PER 
HONORABILES  VIROS  ANDREAM  FLETCHER 
DE  MlLTOUN  JUSTITIARIUM  CLERICUM, 
DOMINUM   JACOBUM   MACKENZIE   DE   ROY- 

418 


APPENDIX 

stoun  dominum  gllbertum  elliot  de 
Minto  et  Magistrum  Patricium  Grant 
de  Elchies  Commissionarios  Justiciarii 
dict  S.D.N.  Regis. 

Curia  Legitime  Affirmata. 

This  day  the  Lord  Justice  Clerk  delivered  a  letter  di- 
rected to  his  Lordship  from  his  Grace  the  Duke  of  New- 
castle, one  of  His  Majesty's  Principal  Secretaries  of  State, 
whereof  the  tenour  follows  : — 

Whitehall,  6th  June  1738. — My  Lord,  Application  hav- 
ing been  made  to  His  Majesty,  in  behalf  of  Isobel  Walker 
lately  condemned  at  Dumfreis  for  the  murder  of  her  bas- 
tard child  ;  I  am  conmanded  to  signifie  to  your  Lordship 
his  Majesty's  pleasure  That  the  execution  of  the  sentence 
pronounced  against  the  said  Isobel  Walker  be  Respited 
for  two  months  from  the  time  appointed  for  her  execu- 
tion ;  and  that  a  state  of  her  case  be  laid  before  his  Ma- 
jesty, whereupon  his  Majesty  will  declare  his  further  plea- 
sure. I  am,  My  Lord,  Your  Lordship's  most  obedient 
humble  servant,  (Sic  subscribitur)  Holies  Newcastle  (Di- 
rected thus)  To  the  Right  Honourable  the  Lord  Justice 
Clerk  at  Edinburgh.  Holies  Newcastle. —  Thereafter  the 
said  Lords  gave  their  Warrant  to  the  Magistrates  of  Dum- 
freis for  stopping  the  said  execution,  whereof  the  tenour 
follows  : — By  the  Right  Honourable  the  Lord  Justice 
Clerk  and  Lords  Commissioners  of  Justiciary,  Whereas  his 
Majesty  has  been  graciously  pleased,  by  a  letter  signed  by 
his  Grace  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  one  of  his  Majesties  prin- 
cipall  Secretaries  of  State,  to  signifie  his  pleasure  to  their 
Lordships  that  the  sentence  of  death  pronounced  against 
Isobel  Walker,  Prisoner  in  the  tolbooth  of  Dumfreis  which 
was  to  have  been  execute  upon  her  upon  the  fourteenth 
of  June  current,  be  Respited  for  two  months  from  the 
time  appointed  for  her  execution  ;  These,  therefore,  in 
419 


THE  SCOTT  ORIGINALS 

obedience  to  his  Majesty's  commands,  Discharged  and 
Prohibited  the  Magistrates  of  Dumfreis,  and  all  other 
officers  of  the  law  from  putting  the  foresaid  sentence  of 
death  in  execution  upon  the  said  Isobel  Walker  till  the 
fifteenth  day  of  August  next  to  come  ;  on  which  day  the 
said  Magistrates  of  Dumfreis  were  hereby  required  and 
ordained  to  put  the  former  sentence  of  death  in  execution 
upon  the  said  Isobel  Walker,  in  all  points  as  they  would 
be  answerable.  Given  att  Edinburgh  the  Twelfth  day  of 
June  1738  years.  (Signed)  Andr.  Fletcher.  Ja.  Mac- 
kenzie.   Gilb.  Elliot.    P.  Grant. 

2.  Remission  to  Isobel  Walker  is  dated  12  July  1738 

and  is  granted  on  condition  that  she,  within  the 
space  of  forty  days  after  she  is  liberated  in  virtue 
of  the  remission,  shall  transport  herself  from  the 
dominions  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  never  to 
return  without  licence  from  the  Sovereign  under 
his  sign  manual  and  Privy  or  Great  Seal  previous- 
ly obtained. — If  she  be  found  within  the  Kingdom 
after  that  time  the  remission  is  declared  to  be  void. 

3.  On  the  margin  of  the  original  Minute  Book  of  Re- 

cord, opposite  the  entry  of  the  two  months  respite, 
there  is  written  the  following,  viz. : — "  Isobel  Wal- 
"  ker  remitted  and  the  Remission  is  dated  the 
"  Twelfth  day  of  July  1738,  pass  the  Great  Seall 
"  the  seventh  day  of  August  the  said  year  with  this 
"  express  condition  that  she  depart  the  Kingdoms 
"  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  within  fourty  days 
"  after  she  is  liberate  in  virtue  of  the  said  Remis- 
"  sion  never  to  be  seen  therein  unless  she  obtain  a 
"  licence  from  his  Majestie  or  his  Royal  successors 
"  for  that  effect.  If  she  be  seen  within  his  Majes- 
"  ties  dominions  foresaid  the  foresaid  remission  to 
'  be  void  and  the  sentence  to  be  put  in  execution 
"  against  her."    This  entry,  which  is  in  the  same 

420 


APPENDIX 

handwriting  as  that  of  the  entry  of  Respite  is  not 
authenticated  by  any  one  and  has  not  been  trans- 
ferred to  the  Books  of  Adjournal.  The  Books  of 
Adjournal  may  have  been  written  up  prior  to  the 
writing  of  this  marginal  entry. 

From  the  tradition  which  makes  Isobel  marry  and 
settle  in  Whitehaven,  we  must  conclude  that  lib- 
erty to  return  had  been  granted,  unless,  indeed, 
an  absolute  pardon  had  been  bestowed  upon  her. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Abbotrule,  56. 

Abbotsford,  33,  78,  169,  190. 

Hunt,  78. 
Abel,  46. 

Abercorn,  Lady,  46. 
Abercromby,  George,  317. 
Aberdeen,  21,  178. 
Aberfoyle,  192. 
Abjuration  Oath,  348. 
Acharn,  16. 
Act  of  Indemnity,  16. 
Adams,  Abraham,  73,  394. 
Adolphus,  J.  L.,  379. 
Affleck,  Rev.  A.,  330. 
Agnew  of  Lochnaw,  347. 
Aird,  Thomas,  34. 
Andrews,  394. 
Angelo,  Michael,  359. 
Anglesey,  46. 
Annates  de  Waverleia,  7. 
Anne,  Queen,  333. 
Annesley  Case,  46. 
Antiquary,  The,  118  et  seq. 
Appin  Stewarts,  14. 
Arbroath,  120. 
Ardsheal,  16. 
Arniston,  99. 
Argyll,  Duke  of,  233. 
Ashestiel,  3,  33,  49,  37 1. 
"Ashton,  Lady,"  263,  397. 

"  Lucy,"  249  et  seq. 

"Sir  William,"  263. 
Astrologer  story,  9. 
Athencsum,  The,  314. 
Auchiries,  22. 
"  Auld  Robin  Gray,"  362. 
Austen,  Miss,  313. 
Avowal  of  Waverley  authorship 

369. 

Baillie,  Joanna,  360. 

Matthew,  108. 

of  Mellerstain,  61,  335. 
Balcarres,  Countess  of,  362. 
Baldoon,  257. 
"  Balfour  of  Burley,"  168. 
"Ballads,  riding,"  55. 
Ballantyne,  Catherine,  62. 

James,  4. 

John,  249,  380. 
425 


Ballochmyle,  15. 

Ballyveolan,  27. 

Balmaclellan,  170. 

Balmawhapple,  12. 

Balquhidder,  193. 

Baltimore,  180. 

"  Baltimore,  belle  of,"  180. 

Barbauld,  Mrs.,  213. 

Barker,  Eliz.,  102. 

Barnes,  46. 

Baron's  fool,  36. 

Bayle's,  Fortune's,  andWalker's, 

377- 
Beardie,  7. 

Beild,  The,  34. 
Bell,  Glassford,  316. 

John,  of  Whiteside,  348. 
Belloch,  16. 

Belsches,  Williamina,  21,214,216. 
Bertram,  49. 
Berwick,  34,  251. 
Bewcastle,  53. 

Bide-the-Bent,  Rev.  Mr.,  397. 
Bitch  Craig,  146. 
Black,  A.  and  C,  179. 
Blackhouse,  62. 
Blackwood,  22. 
Blair,  47. 
Blattergowl,  395. 
Blind  Alice,  383. 
"  Bliicher,  The,"  299. 
Blue-gowns,  133. 
Bonaparte,  Jerome,  180. 

Napoleon,  180. 
Bonchcster  Bridge,  56. 
Bongate,  Jedburgh,  61. 
Bonshaw,  Irving  of,  353. 
Border  Club  at  St.  Ronan's,  316. 
"  Bores,"  13. 
Borrow,  George,  107. 
Borthwick  Castle,  276. 
Boston,  Thomas,  397. 
Boswell,  10 1. 
Bothwell  Bridge,  166. 
Bowden,  34. 

Moor,  71. 
Bracebridge  Hall,  290. 
Bradwardine,  Baron  of,  12  et  seq. 

Blessed  Bears  of,  19. 
Braxfield,  Lord,  95. 


INDEX 


British  Museum,  7. 
Broadfoot,  James,  143. 
Brotherstonc,  376. 
Broughton  Mill,  157. 
Brown,  Henry,  46. 

James,  159. 
Buccleuch,  Duchess  of,  72. 

Duke  of,  361. 
Buchan,  20. 

Buchanan  of  Cambusmore,  377. 
"  Bucklaw,"  252. 
Bunyan,  John,  35. 
Burn,  William,  letter  to,  240. 
Burns,  Robert,  359. 
Burton,  Sir  Richard,  106. 
Bute,  Earl  of,  361. 
Butler,  Reuben,  230. 
Byron,  4,  188. 

Caerlaverock,  51,  179. 
Cairnvreckan,  394. 
Cairston  Roads,  304. 
Calder,  Margaret,  304. 
Caledonian  Mercury,  200. 
Callum  Beg,  10. 
Cameron,  Richard,  400. 
Campbell  of  Barcaldine,  16. 

of  Lilliesleaf,  39. 

Thomas,  290. 
Cample,  The,  171. 
Canongate,  Chronicles  of  the,  14. 
Cardrona,  318. 
Cargill,  Donald,  400. 
*'  Cargill,  Josiah,"  85,  325,  397. 
Carlisle  and  Carlisle  Castle,  8,  9, 

11,  114,  146. 
Carlyle,  J.  A.,  353. 

T.,  353- 

Mrs.,  106. 
Carpenter,  Charlotte,  49,  315. 
Carlanrig,  83. 

Carruthers  of  Dormont,  46. 
Carscreugh,  254. 
Cassencary,  5 1 . 
Ca^sillis,  Countess  of,  106. 
Castle  Dangerous,  48. 
Caton  Family,  181. 
Catriona,  204. 
Cervantes,  80. 
Chalmers,  George,  176. 
Chambers,  Robert,  Si,  84,  101. 


Chambers,  William,  147,  315. 

Channelkirk,  337. 

Charlie,Prince,3,i3,i  14,169,341. 

"  Charlieshope,"  51. 

Charterhouse  Moor,  112. 

Cheviots,  1 10. 

Chief swood,  301. 

Cistercians,  7. 

Claistron,  304. 

Clarinda,  359. 

Claverhouse,  166,  347,  353. 

Cleeve,  Rev.  A.,  38S. 

Cleikum  Inn,  315. 

"  Cleishbotham,  Jedediah,"  143. 

"  Cleveland,  Captain,"  304. 

Clinton,  Lord,  21. 

Closeburn,  168. 

Cockburn's  Memorials,  93. 

Colly,  J.  M.,  314. 

Comyns,  19. 

Constable,  George,  3,  123,  341. 

Griselda,  127. 

John,  125. 
Cope,  Sir  John,  3,  14. 
Corncockle,  171. 
Count  Robert,  48. 
Cowper,  359. 
Crabbe's  Tales,  107. 
Craig,  Dr.,  150. 
"  Craigengelt,"  252. 
Craighall,  27. 
Craignethan,  168. 
Cr ailing,  83. 
Cranshaws,  252. 
Cranstoun,  George,  213. 

Jane  Anne,  213,  359. 
Crawford,  84. 
Creetown,  51. 
Crichton,  168. 
Crook,  Japhet,  121. 
Crook,  The,  315. 
Crosbie,  Andrew,  90. 
Crosslee,  35. 
Culloden,  7,  15,  22,  203. 
Cumberland,  Duke  of,  15,  47. 
Cumnock,  245. 

Cunningham  of  Caprington,  361. 
Currie,  John,  $6. 


Daft  Jock  Gray,  33. 
Dalgetty,  Captain,  275. 


426 


INDEX 


Dalrymple,  Janet,  254. 

Dalton,  47. 

"  Dandie  Dinmont,"  49. 

Davidson  of  Hyndlee,  59. 

Dawston,  Cleugh,  56. 

Defoe,  Daniel,  197,  304. 

Deloraine,  William  of,  144. 

Denkmal,  220. 

"  Dennison,  Jenny,"  168. 

Denton,  50,  115. 

"Devil,  Wat  the,"  376. 

Dick's  Cleugh,  301. 

"  Dick  Hattcraick,"  50. 

Dods,  Mrs.  Margaret,  317. 

"  Donald  Bean  Lean,"  10. 

Donizetti's  opera,  249. 

Dormont,  46. 

Douglas,  Dr.,  Galashiels,  137. 

Lady  Frances,  361. 

The  Black,  376. 
Dousterswivel,  121. 
Dow,  Rev.  Mr.,  239. 
Dowden,  Prof.,  375. 
Drumclog,  166. 
Dublin,  157. 

"  Dugald  Dalgetty,"  271  et  seq. 
"  Dumbiedykes,"  231. 
Dumfriesshire,  47. 
"  Dumple,"  54. 
Dunbar,  David,  257. 
Duncan,  Dr.  A.,  329. 

Family  of,  337. 
Dundas,  Lord  President,  99. 

Ralph,  37. 
Dundee,  Burgess  Roll,  125. 

Wallace  Craigie,  125. 
Dunnottar,  176. 
Dunscore,  351. 
Durham  Garland,  45. 
Dwarf,  The  Black,  143  et  seq. 
Dykeraw,  56. 

Earlston,  82,  333. 

Rev.  L.  Johnston,  83. 
Earnscliff,  144. 
East  Indies,  47. 
Edinburgh,  69,  82,  91,  350. 

Annual  Register,  85. 

Christian  Instructor,  105. 

Castle,  109. 

Clerihugh's,  9S. 
427 


Edinburgh,     Crochallan     Fenc- 
ibles,  101. 

Danny  Douglas's,  101. 

Douglas  Hotel,  102  n. 

Tolbooth,  350. 
Edgeworth,  Maria,  17,  313. 
"  Edie  Ochiltree,"  21. 
Edward  1.,  56. 

"  Edward  Waverley,"  8  et  seq. 
Eildon  Hills,  71. 
Eldinhope,  37. 
"  Ellangowan,"  51,  383. 
Elliot,  Robert,  58. 

Willie,  57. 
"  Ellicslaw,"  144. 
Elliston,  83. 
Erskine,  Dr.,  391 . 

Mary  Anne,  359. 

William,  214,  300. 
Ettrick  Kirk,  34. 

Faa,  Gabriel,  50. 

Faas,  The,  50,  106,  108. 

"  Fairford,  Alan,"  342,  376. 

"  Saunders,"  342. 
"  Fairservice,    Andrew,"     32, 

191. 
Farnham,  70. 
Fea  of  Claistron,  308. 
Ferguson,  Adam,  74,  146. 

Col.,  369. 

Professor,  146. 
Ferrier,  Miss,  313. 
Fielding,  394. 
Fifteen,  The,  16,  190. 
Fingask,  12. 
FitzGerald,  Ed.,  227. 
Florence,  217. 
Fontenoy,  136,  147,  363. 
Forbes,  Lord,  19,  216. 

Master  of,  21. 

Sir  W.,  21. 
Fords  of  Frew,  189. 
Fortunes  of  Nigel,  The,  273. 
Forty-five,  The,  17,  190. 
Foulshiels,  371. 
French  Revolution,  122. 

Galashiels,  143. 
Galloway,  45. 
Gal  way,  15. 


INDEX 


"  Gandercleugh,"  143. 

Gardiner,  Colonel,  3. 

Garrachoran,  16. 

Gask,  90. 

Gatehouse,  51. 

Gatelawbridge,  171. 

Gattonside,  315. 

"  Gellatky,  Davie,"  12  et  seq. 

Gemmels,  And.,  135. 

Giaour,  The,  4. 

"  Gideon  Gray,"  370  et  seq. 

Gifford,  50. 

Gillon,  Margaret,  68. 

Gilnockie,  128. 

Gilsland,  49,  31  '. 

Glamis,  19,  383. 

Glasgow,  82,  192,  245,  254. 

Gleig,  Dr.  G.,  127. 

Glengarry,  12. 

Glenluce,  258. 

Glennaquoich,  41. 

"  Glossin,"  50. 

Goldie,  Miss,  48. 

Goldielea,  97. 

Goldsmith,  394. 

Gordon,  Alexander,  128. 

Jean,  105. 
Gow,  John,  304  et  seq. 
Grant,  Prof.,  227. 
Grandtully  Castle,  27. 
Gratz,  Rebecca,  290,  293. 
Gray,  Miss,  of  Teasis,  91. 
Gray,  Robert,  171. 

daughter,  171. 
"  Greenbreeks,"  376. 
"Green  Mantle,"  37S. 
Grierson  of  Lag,  97,  350. 
"  Grogg,  Colonel,"  ^77- 
Gur,  Behram,  theory,  106. 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  274. 
Guyon,  Madame,  19. 
Gypsies,  49,  105. 

Haddington,  15,  251. 
Hainfield,  Schloss,  218. 
Hall,  Basil,  212,  218. 
Hall,  Mrs.,  37. 
Hallmanor,  50. 
Hallyards,  146. 
Hamilton,  Lord  Basil,  261. 
"  Handfasting,"  390. 


Harold  the  Dauntless,  5. 

Hartley,  370. 

Harwich,  83. 

Hay,  Sir  John,  39. 

Hazlewood,  49. 

"  Headrigg,  Cuddie,"  168. 

Heber,  379. 

"  Henderson,  Rev.  Elias,"  390. 

Hermitage,  56. 

"  Heughfoot,    Hobbie  of    the," 

144. 
Hewison,  Dr.  King,  171. 
Highland     Widow,     The,     21, 

398. 
Highlander  years,  3. 
Hinves,  David,  32. 
Hoffman,  Miss,  289. 
Hogg,  Alexander  A.,  39. 

James,  316. 
"  Holdenough,  Rev.  N.,"  398. 
Holland,  83,  108. 

Lord,  165. 
Holm,  97. 
Holyrood,  265. 
Home,  Anne,  335. 

Sir  E.,  335. 
Homer,  48. 
Honnyman,  Mr.,  306. 
Hope,  Capt.  J.,  261. 
Hopetoun,  Lord,  83. 
Howieson,  Willie,  32. 
Hughes,  Mrs.,  67. 
Hume,  109. 
Hunter,  John,  335. 
Huntleyburn,  146,  370. 
Huntlywood,  108. 
Huntsman,  The  Wild,  146. 

Indian  jogue,  29. 
Inglis,  Frank,  167. 
Innerleithen,  315. 
"  Innocent,  An,"  36. 
Inverlochlarig-beg,  200. 

-more,  200. 
Invernahyle,  16. 
Invernenty,  190. 
Inverpholla,  16. 
Ireland,  182. 
Irving,  John,  82,  317. 


Washington,  2SS. 
William,  359. 


428 


TNDEX 


Jacobite  Rising,  3,  18. 
Jamaica,  362. 
Jardine,  Sir  John,  171. 
Jedburgh,  55,  69,  109. 
Jeffrey,  Lord,  6,  272. 
Jerdan,  W.,  168  n. 
"  Jock  the  Ladle,"  S3- 
John  of  Skye,  78. 
Johnston,  Dr.,  68. 

Rob  (gypsy),  108. 
Jolly,  Rev.  Mr.,  39. 
Jones,  Paul,  13. 
"  Julian  Avenel,"  390. 
Juniper  Bank,  62. 

Kaim  of  Derncleugh,  51. 
Kant,  217. 
Keill,  16. 

Keith,     Anne    Murray,    250, 
361. 

Sir  Basil,  362. 

Dr.,  106. 

Jannie,  362. 

Robert,  362. 

Sir  Robert,  362. 
Keith's  History,  199. 
Kelso,  3,  86,  133. 
Kenmure,  Lord,  349. 
Kennedy,  46,  89. 
Ker,  Charles,  56. 
Kershope,  38. 
"  Kettledrummle,"  167. 
Key,  Jean,  203. 
"  Killancureit,  Laird  of,"  31. 
Killionan,  1 1. 
"  Kilpont,  Lord,"  272. 
Kilwinning,  261. 
"  King  of  the  Romantics,"  4. 
King,  Dr.,  22. 
King  Geo.  in.,  362. 
"  Kippletringan,"  31. 
Kirkcaldy,  Barbara,  125. 
Kirkchrist,  176. 
Kirkcudbright,  176. 
Kirkinner,  258. 
Kirkpatrick,  Sir  Thomas,  171, 

351- 

Kirkurd,  183. 
Kirkwall,  306. 
Knot  o'  the  Gate,  56. 
Knox,  John,  106,  390. 
429 


Lady  of  the  Lake,  The,  192. 

Lag,  350. 

Laidlaw,  Elizabeth,  58. 

James,  62. 
Lang,  Andrew,  271. 
Lasswade,  49,  143. 
"  Latimer,  Darsie,"  343,  376. 
Law,  Margaret,  276. 
Lawson  of  Selkirk,  69,  329. 
Leckie  of  Peebles  story,  39. 
Lee,  Principal,  107. 
Legerwood,  82. 
Leith,  68. 
Lenore,  146. 
Leopold,  Prince,  78. 
Lesmahagow,  143. 
Leyden,  John,  67. 
Liddesdale,  4,  35. 
Lilliesleaf,  71. 
Limekiln  Edge,  56. 
Linklater,  Linn  of,  168. 
Lochside,    Gudeman    of,    story, 

109. 
Lockhart,    ■;,  45,  67,    124,    220, 

380. 
London,  20. 

Longmore  Hospital,  3G2. 
Lord  of  the  Isles,  The,  5. 
"  Lovell,"  120 

Luggie,  The,  Clovenfords,  84. 
Luscar,  89. 
"  Lyle,  Annot,"  273. 
Lyne  Mill,  157. 

Macaulay,  Lord,  253,  348. 

"  Madge  Wildfire,"  243. 

"  Maga,"  22. 

Malbone,  293. 

Mannering,  Guy,  4,  49,  80  el  seq. 

Julia,  79. 
Manor,  146. 
Mar,  Earl  of,  9,  13,  19. 
Marchmont,  Lord,  323. 
Marischal  College,  276. 
Marmion,  4. 
Marr,  Andrew,  70. 
Marshall,  Billy,  204. 

Flora,  108. 
Marriage    Contract    of    "  Lucy 

Ashton,"  261. 
Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  390. 


INDEX 


Maud,  21. 

Medwyn,  Lord,  22. 

"  Meg  Dods,"  397  et  seq. 

"  Meg  Merrilies,  49  et  seq. 

"  Meg  Murdockson,  243. 

Meggetdale,  146. 

Mellerstain,  ill. 

Melrose,  67,  75,  245,  315. 

Menteith,  273. 

Middlebie,  72. 

"  Middlemas,  Richard,"  370. 

Midlem,  38. 

Midlothian,  The  Heart  of,  243. 

Millburnholm,  57. 

Millie,  Bessie,  304. 

Milnwood,  168. 

Minstrelsy,  The,  5,  56,  67. 

Moffat,  245,  395. 

Montrose,  271. 

Moor  Park,  7. 

Morris,  192. 

Morritt  of  Rokeby,  32,  119. 

Morton,  171. 

"  Mowbray,  Clara,"  314. 

Mozart,  217. 

"  Mucklewrath,"  167. 

"  Mumps,  Tib,"  50. 

Munro,  Col.  Robert,  275. 

Murray,  John,  165. 

Patrick,  176. 

William,  actor,  187. 
Mylne,  Robert,  335. 
"  Macbriar,  Ephraim,"  163. 
"  Maccombich,  Evan  Dhu,"  10. 
M'Crie,  Dr.  T.,  34,  165. 
M'Culloch,  50. 
M'Diarmid,  John,  233. 
Macdonald  of  Tirnadrish,  1 1. 
Macdonell  of  Glengarry,  11. 
MacGregors,  The,  192  et  seq. 
"  M'Intyre,  Captain,"  127. 
"  Mac-Ivor,  Fergus,"  8,  10. 

"  Flora,"  8. 
M'Kail,  Hugh,  167. 
Mackay,  C,  190. 
Mackenzie,  Sir  Geo.,  353. 
Mackinlay,  John,  45. 
Macmorlan,  46. 
Macmullan,  46. 
"  MacTavish,  Elspat,"  398. 
"  Macwheeble,  Bailie,"  10,  32. 


Naesmyth,  Sir  James,  158. 

Nairne,  Miss,  12. 

Napoleon,  180,  217. 

Neidpath,  313. 

Nero,  23. 

New  Forest,  33. 

New  Galloway,  176. 

Newton-Stewart,  Shoulder  of 
Mutton  at,  143. 

Nicol  of  Traquair,  39. 

Niger,  The,  371. 

"  Nippy,  Laird,"  167. 

Niven,  Annabel,  157. 

"  Noma  of  the  Fitful  Head,"  383. 

Northern  Lighthouse  Commis- 
sion, 303. 

"  Ochiltree,  Edie,"  126  et  seq. 

Old  Bachelor,  Aird's,  34. 

Old  Cumnock,  135. 

Old  Mortality,  165  et  seq. 

"  Oldbuck,  Jonathan,"  378. 

Orcharton,  47  n. 

Orr,  John,  353. 

"Osbaldistone,  Frank,"  190,  379. 

Oxford,  22. 

Oxnam  Kirk,  61. 

Padua,  217. 
Palatine,  Princess,  359. 
Paris,  9,  19. 

Park,  Mungo,  62,  130,  371. 
Pate,  Rev.  Mr.  (Innerleithen),  39. 
Paterson,    Robert    ("Old    Mor- 
tality "),  165  et  seq. 

Dr.  Nathaniel,  183. 

Walter,  176. 
Paton,  Rev.  Mr.  (Ettrick),  37. 
Patterson,  180. 
"  Pattieson,  Peter,"  143. 
Paulding,  291. 
Pavilion,  The,  yj . 
Peden  the  Prophet,  400. 
Peebles,  150,  317,  371. 
Penninghame, 
"  Pepper  and  Mustard,"  54. 
Percy's  Reliques,  55. 
Peregrine  Pickle,  46. 
Peveril  of  the  Peak,  11,  398. 
Pirate,  The,  301. 
Pitsligo,  Lord,  17  et  seq. 
"Pleydell,"  89,  392. 

430 


INDEX 


Pope,  120,  333. 
Portanferry,  51. 
Porteous  Mob,  231. 
Preston,  20. 

Prestonpans,  3,  12,  123,  273. 
Probation,  364. 
Proud  Maisie,  244. 
Purgstall,    Countess   ("  Di  Ver- 
non "),  209  et  seq. 

Quackleben,  Mrs,  314. 
Quakeress,  Kelso,  359. 
Quentin  Durward,  314. 
Quietists,  The,  19. 

Rae,  James,  173. 
Rainy,  Principal,  96  n. 
Ramsay,  Allan,  156. 

John  (Liberton),  230. 
"  Rashleigh,"  191. 
"  Ratcliffe,  Daddy,"  231. 
Raven  Burn,  56. 
Ravenswood,  251. 
Rawlinson,  Sir  Henry,  106. 
"  Rebecca,"  8,  286  et  seq. 
Rebellion,  15. 
Redgauntlet,  341  et  seq. 
Reliques,  Percy's,  55. 
Renwick,  James,  400. 
Rhymer's  Glen,  303. 
Richardson  of  Kirklands,  288. 
"  Ricketts,  Mabel,"  375. 
Rieger^burg,  217. 
Ritchie,  Agnes,  159. 
Ritchie,     David     ("The     Black 

Dwarf"),  143  et  seq. 
Ritchie,' Marion  ("  Meg  Dods  "), 

315  et  seq. 
Ritchie,  Walter,  318. 
Rob  Roy,  13,  187  et  seq. 
Robertson,  Alexander,  17. 

Euphan,  36. 

George,  231. 

Principal,  102  11. 
Rockhall,  348. 
Rokeby,  5. 

Rolland,  Adam  ("  Pleydell "),  89. 
Rosehearty,  21. 
"Rothes,  Dissolute,"  353. 
Rotterdam,  168. 
Roxburgh  Castle,  34. 

churchyard,  135. 

431 


Roxburgh-Newtown,  138. 
Rusco,  262. 

Russell,  Dr.  (Yarrow),  37,  39. 
Rutherfords,  The,  107. 
Rutherfurd,  Lord,  257. 
Rutledge,  Henry,  47. 

Saintsbury,  Professor,  387. 

St.  Boswells,  68. 

St.  Ronan's  Well,  313. 

Salmagundi,  288. 

Sampson,  Abel,  49,  79,  395. 

Sandford,  Rev.  D.,  388. 

Sandyknowe,  38,  376. 

Sanson,  Rev.  James,  67,  81. 

Saughtree,  56. 

Schiller,  217. 

Scotsman,  The,  84. 

Scott,  Sir  Walter,  3,  9,  17  et  seq. 

Anne,  359. 

Sophia,  389. 

Henry,  38. 

of  Greenwood,  58. 

Captain  John,  146. 
Scrabster,  304. 
Selkirk,  35,  69. 
Semple,  Gabriel,  167. 
Seward,  Anna,  366. 
Shakespeare,  124,  243. 
Shannon,  Rev.  R.  Q.,  389. 
Sharp,  Archbishop,  347. 
Sharpe,  Kirkpatrick,  250. 
Shaws  Castle,  315. 
Shelley,  188. 

Shenstone's  Pastorals,  156. 
Sheriff  muir,  19. 
Shiell  Moor,  no. 
Shirra's  Knowc,  The,  4. 
Shortreed,  Robert  and  Thomas, 

55- 
Simprin,  176. 
Skene,  146,  168. 
Smellie,  101. 
Smith,  Charlotte,  7. 
Smollett,  46. 

"  Solsgrace,  Rev.  N.,"  398. 
Somerville,  Lord,  J7. 
Sou! is,  Lord,  56. 
Southdean,  56. 
Spear,  Dorcas,  181. 
Spedlins  Castle,  171. 


INDEX 


Stagshawbank  Fair,  63. 
Stair,  Earls  of,  253. 
Stephen,  Sir  Leslie,  190. 
Stevenson,  R.  L.,  198,  203. 
Stonehaven,  176. 
Stewart,  Dr.  Arch.,  349. 

John  Roy,  17. 
Stewart  of  Invernahyle,  313. 

family,  16. 
Stirling  Castle,  1 1. 
Stobo,  157. 
Story,  Principal,  107. 
Stow,  76. 

Stuart,  Lady  Louisa,  361. 
Suffolk,  Lady,  361. 
Sully,  Thomas,  293. 
Surrey,  7. 

Symons,  Miriam,  293. 
Symson,  Rev.  A.,  258,  264. 

Talbot,  Col.,  14,  17. 

Tales  of  a  Grandfather,  400. 

Terry,  71. 

Test  Act,  The,  348. 

Teviothead,  83. 

Thackeray,  17,  229. 

Thomson,  Dominie,  67. 

Rev.  Geo.,  Sen.,  68. 

William(Over-Roxburgh),i4o. 
Thorburn,  John,  62. 
Thornhill,  171. 
Threipland,  David,  12. 
Tilford  House,  7. 
Tinwald,  Lord,  97. 
Titus  Livius,  20. 
Tobermory,  63. 
Tod  Willie,  50. 
Tod's  Den,  The,  11. 
Tooke's  Pantheon,  156. 
Torres  Vcdras,  147. 
Touchwood,  397. 
Train,  Joseph,  45,  135,  169,  231, 

244. 
Traquair,  27,  315. 
Triermain,  Bridal  of,  5. 
Trim,  33. 

Tripatriarchicon,  259. 
Tully-Veolan,  17,33. 
Turner,  Sir  James,  275,  353. 

Rev.  Patrick,  278. 
Tweed,  48. 


Tweedsmuir,  315a, 
Tyrie,  Rev.  M.,  398. 

Unwin,  Mary,  359. 
Urrie,  Sir  John,  275. 

Veitch.Prof.,  mother  quoted,  145. 
"  Vere,  Isobel,"  144. 
"Vernon,  Di,"  209-224. 
Vicar  of  Wakefield,  394. 
"  Vich  Ian  Vohr,"  9. 
Vienna,  217,  362. 
"  Virtuoso,"  359. 

Walker,  Isobel,  233. 

Patrick,  230. 
Walkinshaw,  Clementina,  342. 
"  Wandering  Willie's  Tale,"  353. 
"  Warden,  Henry,"  390. 
"  Wardour,  Miss,"  120. 

"  Sir  Arthur,"  121. 
"Wasp,"  54. 

Watson,  Smellie,  R.S.A.,  36. 
Waugh,  234,  236. 
Waverley,  3,  4,  5,  7,  9. 
Weir  the  Warlock,  353. 
Wemyss,  Earl  of,  52. 
"  Westburnfiat,"  144. 
Westerhall,  353. 
Whale,  Lancelot,  86,  133. 
Whirlybet  Meg,  245. 
Whitterhope  Burn,  56. 
Whitefoord,     Col.     Charles    (of 

Ballochmyle),  14. 
Whitehaven,  236. 
Whitelaw,  of  Hamilton,  238. 
Whiteside,  John  Bell  of,  348. 
Wilkie,  Dr.,  316. 
Williams  (The  Pirate),  305. 
Wilson,  Andrew,  231. 

Margaret,  349. 

Professor,  380. 
Winton  House,  251. 
Woodhouse,  147. 

Ballantynes  of,  15U. 
Woodstock,  398. 
Wordsworth,  198. 

Yarrow  Kirk,  iy. 
Yawkins  ("Dick  Hatteraick  "), 
50. 


Date  Due 

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3 

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MAR     1 

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AA    000  652  776    6 


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PR53l;2 

A2C7 

PR53U2 

A2C7 

AUTHOR 

Crockett,  William  S. 

TITLE 

The  Scott  originals. 

.. 

DATE  DUE 

BORROWER'S 

NAME 

Crockett, 
The  Sco 

William  S. 
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